y yy
'^yo^^^^fy^
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.
Cluvi opyrightNo
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
?Reife
tmUmm
im3al;r 1750^
unO
ajufreifenacb^cutfc^lanb
tm 3af)r 1754^
€ntbaltcnD
^(cl}t^urctnc25c^cf)rctbunc^^cl5£a^6c«
nacl) fetnem gcgcnmdrttcien 3u|!ant)e , fotuj
Dcrn aud) erne au0fu()rlicj)e ^aci)ricl)t con Den
mQlnffcliQm unD bcfrubfen UmjIdnDen Dcr meiflm
5cutfci;en/ ^kin Mefed ^atiD gciogen fmD/
unb Dahin jief^en.
/
TWO COPIES RECEIVED.
/
GOTTLIEB MITTELBERGER'S
JOURNEY
TO
PENNSYLVANIA
IN THE YEAR 1750
AND
RETURN TO GERMANY
IN THE YEAR 1754,
CONTAINING
NOT ONLY A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY ACCORDING TO
ITS PRESENT CONDITION, BUT ALSO A DETAILED ACCOUNT
OF THE SAD AND UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES OF
MOST OF THE GERMANS THAT HAVE EMIGRATED,
OR ARE EMIGRATING TO THAT COUNTRY.
Translated prom the German
BY
CARL THEO. EBEN,
Member of the German Society of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia ;
JOHN JOS. McVEY.
1898.
TWO COPIES RECEIVED.
Copyright, 1898,
BY
JOHN JOS. McVEY.
t
•^■'
IN rendering G. Mittelberger's Reise nach
Pemisylvanien Into English, it has been the
translator's aim to reproduce the author's
work with the greatest possible accuracy con-
sistent with grammatical correctness, photo-
graphing, as it were, the quaint and naive lan-
guage of the original, although at the sacrifice
of elegant diction. In a few instances, where
it seemed necessary to make the author's mean-
ing clear, a word or brief remark has been
added to the text in brackets [ ], or a note at
the foot of the page.
TO THE
MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE AND
LORD,
CARL,
DUKE OF WiJRTEMBERG AND TECK, COUNT OF
MOMPELGARDT, LORD OF HEIDENHEIM AND
JUSTINGEN, ETC., KNIGHT OF THE
GOLDEN FLEECE, AND FIELD-MAR-
SHAL-GENERAL OF THE LAUD-
ABLE SWABIAN CIRCLE,
ETC.
TO MY MOST GRACIOUS PRINCE
AND LORD
DEDI-
DEDICATES IN DEEPEST SUBMISSION
IN ITS NOW IMPROVED FORM
THE PRESENT HUMBLE PUBLICATION
WHICH
YOUR ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCELY HIGHNESS
HAS GRACIOUSLY DEIGNED TO PERUSE
PARTLY
IN MANUSCRIPT,
AND
COMMENDS HIMSELF TO A CONTINUANCE
OF YOUR HIGH
PRINCELY GRACE AND FAVOR.
GOTTLIEB MITTELBERGER.
ESTEEMED READER.
MM value of this little book does not con-
•m-
sist in eleo;ant diction accordino- to the
rules of composition, but in its remark-
able contents. The former will not be expected
from the author, who is not a scholar. On the
other hand his narrative, which, however, is
quite readable, is to the reader a guaranty of
his sincerity, not to mention the fact that he
writes for the most part as an eye-witness. As
he did not strictly aim at relating- all matters of
the same kind consecutively, his work has re-
ceived some variety which is, perhaps, more
agreeable to the reader. What the author
narrates with simplicity and without ornamenta-
tion of the various Europeans and the American
savages, their manners and customs, their laws,
domestic and religious institutions, is for the
most part new and of such a nature that think-
ing readers will be glad to perceive in it a
special mingling of the European and Ameri-
can climate, of the customs of the Old and the
New World, and of a civilized people living in
part in natural freedom.
(11) The
The communications from the realm of nature,
the animals, plants, etc., will no less arrest the
attention of the reader, inasmuch as the wise
Creator has placed an entirely new theatre of
his miracles before the eyes of rational man.
But the most important part of this publication
will no doubt be found in the account of the
fate that awaits most of the unfortunate people
who leave Germany to seek uncertain pros-
perity in the New World, but find instead, if
not death, most surely an oppressive servitude
and slavery. Nothing has been changed in the
author's work, except that some notes from
other writers of repute, confirming the author's
narrative, have been added on the marcrin, and
that the orthography has been made to conform
to that in general use. The little work is here-
with warmly recommended to the reader.
JOURNEY
(12)
JOURNEY TO PENNSYLVANIA
IN AMERICA.
i^i^SS ^^""^ month of May, 1750, I departed
^j)M^ from Enzweihingen, Vaihingen County,
^P^ac- my native place, for Heilbronn, where
an organ stood ready to be shipped and sent
to Pennsylvania. With this organ, I sailed the
usual way, down the Neckar and Rhine to Rot-
terdam in Holland. From ■ Rotterdam I sailed
with a transport of about 400 souls, Wiirtem-
bergers, Durlachers, Palatines and Swiss, etc.,
across the North Sea to Kaupp [Cowes] in
England, and after a sojourn of 9 days there,
across the great ocean, until I landed in Phila-
delphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, Oct. 10,
1750.* From home to Rotterdam, including
my sojourn there^ I spent 7 weeks, caused by
the many stoppages down the Rhine and in
Holland, whereas this journey could otherwise
* In the list of names of Foreigners arriving in the ship
"Osgood," William Wilkie, Captain, from Rotterdam, and
taking the oath of allegiance Sept. 29th, 1750 [O. S.], is
that of Gottlieb Mittelberger. — Penna. Archives, 2nd Series,
Vol. XVIL, p. 324.
(13) be
14 Journeg to iPcnns^lvania
be made swifter; but from Rotterdam to Phila-
delphia the voyage lasted 15 weeks. I was
nearly 4 years in that country, engaged, as my
testimonials show, as organist and schoolmaster
with the German St. Auo^ustine's Church in
Providence, having besides given private in-
struction in music and in the German language,
as the following certificate will show, at the
house of Captain Diemer.
Whereas the Bearer, Mr. Mittelberger,
Music Master, has resolved to return from
this Province, to his native Land, which is in the
Dukedom of Wiirtemberg in High Germany; I
have at his Request granted these Lines to cer-
tify that ye above nam'd Mr. Mittelberger has
behaved himself honestly, diligently, and faith-
fully in ye Offices of Schoolmaster and Organ-
ist, during ye Space of three Years; in ye
Township of New-Providence, County of Phila-
delphia and Province of Pennsylvania, etc. So
that I and all his Employers were entirely satis-
fied, and would willingly have him to remain
with us. But as his Call obliges him to proceed
on his long Journey; we would recommend ye
s'd Mr. Mittelberger to all Persons of Dignity
and Character; and beg their Assistance, so
that he may pass and repass untill he arrives at
his Respective Abode; which may God grant,
and
•ffn Bmerlca. 15
and may ye Benediction of Heaven accompany
him in his Journey. Deus benedicat susceptis
ejus & ferat eum ad amicos suos maxima pros-
peritate.
Dabam, Providentise Philadelphise
Comitatu Pennsylvania in Ame-
rica, die 25. Apr. A. D. 1754.
John Diemer, Cap.
Sam. Kennedy, M. D.
Henery Pawhng, Esqr.
T.
Henry Marsteller.
Matdiias GmeHn.
I have carefully inquired into the condition of
the country; and what I describe here, I have
partly experienced myself, and partly heard
from trustworthy people who were familiar with
the circumstances. I might possibly be able to
relate a great deal more, if I had thought that
I should ever publish something about Pennsyl-
vania. For I always considered myself far too
weak for such an undertakino-. But the fatali-
ties which I suffered on my journey to and fro
(for in the country itself I fared well, because I
immediately found good support and could get
along well), and the evil tricks of the newland-
ers, which they intended to play me and my
family, as I shall relate hereafter, have awak-
ened
16 5ournes to ipcnns^lvania
ened the first impulse In me not to keep con-
cealed what I knew. But the most important
occasion for publishing this litde book was the
wretched and grievous condition of those who
travel from Germany to this new land, and the
outrageous and merciless proceeding of the
Dutch man-dealers and their man-stealing emis-
saries; I mean the so-called nevvlanders, for
they steal, as it were, German people under all
manner of false pretenses, and deliver them
into the hands of the great Dutch traffickers in
human souls. These derive a large, and the
newlanders a smaller profit from this traffic.
This, I say, is the main cause why I publish this
book. I had to bind myself even by a vow to
do so. For before I left Pennsylvania, when it
became known that I was about to return to
Wurtemberg, many Wurtembergers, Durlach-
ers and Palatines, of whom there are a great
number there who repent and regret it while
they live that they left their native country, im-
plored me with tears and uplifted hands, and
even in the name of God, to make this misery
and sorrow known in Germany, so that not
only the common people, but even princes and
lords, might learn how they had fared, to pre-
vent other innocent souls from leaving their
fatherland, persuaded thereto by the newland-
ers, and from being sold into a like slavery.
And
•ffn Bmerica. 17
And so I vowed to the great God, and promised
those people, to reveal to the people of Ger-
many the pure truth about it, to the best of my
knowledge and ability. I hope, therefore, that
my beloved countrymen and all Germany will
care no less to obtain accurate information as to
how far it is to Pennsylvania, how long it takes
to get there ; what the journey costs, and be-
sides, what hardships and dangers one has to
pass through ; what takes place when the people
arrive well or ill in the country; how they are
sold and dispersed; and finally, the nature and
condition of the whole land. I relate both what
is good and what is evil, and I hope, therefore,
to be considered impartial and truthful by an
honor-loving world.
When all this will have been read, I do not
doubt that those who may still desire to go
there, will remain in their fatherland, and care-
fully avoid this long and tedious journey and
the fatalities connected with it; as such a jour-
ney involves with most a loss of their property,
liberty and peace ; with not a few even a loss
of life, and I may well say, of the salvation of
their souls.
From Wiirtemberg or Durlach to Holland and
the open sea we count about 200 hours; from
there across the sea to Old Eneland as far as
Kaupp, [Cowes] where the ships generally cast
anchor
18 Journey to pennsglvama
anchor before they start on the great sea-voyage,
150 hours; from there, till England is entirely
lost sight of, above lOO hours; and then across
the great ocean, that is from land to land, 1 200
hours according to the statements of mariners ;
at length from the first land in Pennsylvania to
Philadelphia over 40 hours. Which makes to-
gether a journey of 1700 hours or 1700 French
miles.
This journey lasts from the beginning of May
to the end of October, fully half a year, amid
such hardships as no one is able to describe
adequately with their misery.
The cause is because the Rhine-boats from
Heilbronn to Holland have to pass by 36
custom-houses, at all of which the ships are
examined, w^hich is done when it suits the con-
venience of the custom-house officials. In the
meantime the ships with the people are detained
long, so that the passengers have to spend much
money. The trip down the Rhine alone lasts
therefore 4, 5 and even 6 weeks.
When the ships with the people come to
Holland, they are detained there likewise 5 or
6 w^eeks. Because things are very dear there,
the poor people have to spend nearly all they
have during that time. Not to mention many
sad accidents which occur here ; having seen
with my own eyes how a man, as he w^as about
to
Hn Bmerica. 19
to board the ship near Rotterdam, lost two
children at once by drowning.
Both in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam the
people are packed densely, like herrings so to
say, In the large sea-vessels. One person re-
ceives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6
feet length in the bedstead, while many a ship
carries four to six hundred souls ; not to men-
tion the innumerable implements, tools, provi-
sions, water-barrels and other thmgs which like-
wise occupy much space.
On account of contrary winds it takes the
ships sometimes 2, 3 and 4 weeks to make the
trip from Holland to Kaupp [Cowes] in Eng-
land. But when the wind is good, they get
there in 8 days or even sooner. Everything is
examined there and the custom-duties paid,
whence it comes that the ships ride there 8, 10
to 14 days and even longer at anchor, till they
have taken in their full cargoes. During that
time every one is compelled to spend his last
remaining money and to consume his little stock
of provisions which had been reserved for the
sea ; so that most passengers, finding them-
selves on the ocean where they would be in
greater need of them, must greatly suffer from
hunger and want. Many suffer want already
on the water between Holland and Old Eng-
land.
When
20 3ourne\? to iPcnnsglvania
When the ships have for the last time
weighed their anchors near the city of Kaupp
[Cowes] in Old England, the real misery begins
with the long voyage. For from there the
ships, unless they have good wind, must often
sail 8, 9, 10 to 12 weeks before they reach
Philadelphia. But even with the best wind the
voyage lasts 7 weeks.
But during the voyage there is on board
these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes,
horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness,
fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation,
boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like,
all of which come from old and sharply salted
food and meat, also from very bad and foul
water, so that many die miserably.
Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst,
frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions
and lamentations, together with other trouble,
as c. V. the lice abound so frightfully, especially
on sick people, that they can be scraped off the
body. The misery reaches the climax when a
gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that
every one believes that the ship will go to the
bottom with all human beings on board. In
such a visitation the people cry and pray most
piteously.
When in such a gale the sea rages and
surges, so that the waves rise often like high
mountains
Hn Bmecica. 21
mountains one above the other, and often
tumble over the ship, so that one fears to go
down with the ship ; when the ship is constantly-
tossed from side to side by the storm and
waves, so that no one can either walk, or sit, or
lie, and the closely packed people in the berths
are thereby tumbled over each other, both the
sick and the well — it will be readily understood
that many of these people, none of whom had
been prepared for hardships, suffer so terribly
from them that they do not survive it,
I myself had to pass through a severe illness
at sea, and I best know how I felt at the time.
These poor people often long for consolation,
and I often entertained and comforted them
with singing, praying and exhorting ; and when-
ever it was possible and the winds and waves
permitted it, I kept daily prayer-meetings with
them on deck. Besides, I baptized five children
in distress, because we had no ordained minister
on board. I also held divine service every Sun-
day by reading sermons to the people ; and
when the dead were sunk in the water, I com-
mended them and our souls to the mercy of
God.
Among the healthy, impatience sometimes
grows so great and cruel that one curses the
other, or himself and the day of his birth, and
sometimes come near killing each other. Misery
and
22 Journey to Pennsylvania
and malice join each other, so that they cheat
and rob one another. One always reproaches
the other with having persuaded him to under-
take the journey. Frequendy children cry out
apainst their parents, husbands against their
wives and wives against their husbands, brothers
and sisters, friends and acquaintances against
each other. But most against the soul-traffick-
ers.
Many sigh and cry : " Oh, that I were at home
again, and if I had to lie in my pig-sty !" Or
they say : " O God, if I only had a piece of good
bread, or a good fresh drop of water." Many
people whimper, sigh and cry piteously for their
homes ; most of them get home-sick. Many
hundred pc^ople necessarily die and perish in
such misery, and must be cast into the sea,
which drives their reladves, or those who per-
suaded them to undertake the journey, to such
despair that it is almost impossible to pacify and
console them. In a word, the sighing and cry-
ing and lamenting on board the ship continues
night and day, so as to cause the hearts even
of the most hardened to bleed when they hear it.
No one can have an idea of the sufferings
which women in confinement have to bear with
their innocent children on board these ships.
Few of this class escape with their lives; many
a mother is cast into the water with her child as
soon
IFn Bmcrica. 23
soon as she is dead. One day, just as we had
a heavy gale, a woman in our ship, who was to
o^ive birth and could not orive birth under the
circumstances, was pushed through a loop-hole
[port-hole] in the ship and dropped into the
sea, because she was far in the rear of the ship
and could not be brought forward.
Children from i to 7 years rarely survive the
voyage ; and many a time parents are com-
pelled to see their children miserably suffer and
die from hunger, thirst and sickness, and then
to see them cast into the water. I witnessed
such misery in no less than 32 children in our
ship, all of whom were thrown into the sea.
The parents grieve all the more since their
children find no resting-place in the earth, but
are devoured by the monsters of the sea. It is
a notable fact that children, who have not yet
had the measles or small-pocks, generally get
them on board the ship, and mostly die of them.
Often a father is separated by death from his
wife and children, or mothers from their little
children, or even both parents from their chil-
dren ; and sometimes whole families die in quick
succession ; so that often many dead persons lie
in the berths beside the living ones, especially
when contagious diseases have broken out on
board the ship.
Many other accidents happen on board these
ships.
24 ^ourne^ to ipcnns^lvania
ships, especially by falling, whereby people are
often made cripples and can never be set right
ao-ain. Some have also fallen into the ocean.
That most of the people get sick is not sur-
prising, because, in addition to all other trials
and hardships, warm food is served only three
times a week, the rations being very poor and
very litde. Such meals can hardly be eaten, on
account of being so unclean. The water which
is served out on the ships is often very black,
thick and full of worms, so that one cannot
drink it without loathing, even with the greatest
thirst. O surely, one would often give much
money at sea for a piece of good bread, or a
drink of good water, not to say a drink of good
wine, if it were only to be had. I myself exper-
ienced that sufficiently, I am sorry to say. To-
ward the end we were compelled to eat the
ship's biscuit which had been spoiled long ago ;
though in a whole biscuit there was scarcely a
piece the size of a dollar that had not been full
of red worms and spiders' nests. Great hunger
and thirst force us to eat and drink everything;
but many a one does so at the risk of his life.
The sea-water cannot be drunk, because it is
salt and bitter as gall. If this were not so, such
a voyage could be made with less expense and
without so many hardships.
At length, when, after a long and tedious
voyage,
Ifn Bmerfca. 25
voyage, the ships come in sight of land, so that
the promontories can be seen, which the people
were so eager and anxious to see, all creep
from below on deck to see the land from afar,
and they weep for joy, and pray and sing,
thanking and praising God. The sight of the
land makes the people on board the ship, espec-
ially the sick and the half dead, alive again, so
that their hearts leap within them ; they shout
and rejoice, and are content to bear their misery
in patience, in the hope that they may soon
reach the land in safety. But alas!
When the ships have landed at Philadelphia
after their long voyage, no one is permitted to
leave them ' except those who pay for their
passage or can give good security ; the others,
who cannot pay, must remain on board the
ships till they are purchased, and are released
from the ships by their purchasers. The sick
always fare the worst, for the healthy are natur-
ally preferred and purchased first; and so the
sick and wretched must often remain on board
in front of the city for 2 or 3 weeks, and
frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could
pay his debt and were permitted to leave the
ship immediately, might recover and remain
alive.
Before I describe how this traffic in human
flesh is conducted, I must mention how much
the
26 3ournei2 to ipenns^lvania
the journey to Philadelphia or Pennsylvania
costs.
A person over lo years pays for the passage
from Rotterdam to Philadelphia lo pounds, or
60 florins. Children from 5 to 10 years pay
half price, 5 pounds or 30 florins. All children
under 5 years are free. For these prices the
passengers are conveyed to Philadelphia, and,
as long as they are at sea, provided with food,
though with very poor, as has been shown above.
But this is only the sea-passage ; the other
costs on land, from home to Rotterdam, including
the passage on the Rhine, are at least 40 florins,
no matter how economically one may live. No
account is here taken of extraordinary contin-
gencies. I may safely assert that, with the great-
est economy, many passengers have spent 200
florins from home to Philadelphia.
The sale of human beings in the market on
board the ship is carried on thus : Every day
Englishmen, Dutchmen and High-German peo-
ple come from the city of Philadelphia and other
places, in part from a great distance, say 20, 30,
or 40 hours away, and go on board the newly
arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale
passengers from Europe, and select among the
healthy persons such as they deem suitable for
their business, and baro^ain with them how lono-
they will serve for their passage money, which
most
•ffn America. 27
most of them are still in debt for. When they
have come to an agreement, it happens that
adult persons bind themselves in writing to
serve 3, 4, 5 or 6 years for the amount due by
them, according to their age and strength. But
very young people, from 10 to 15 years, must
serve till they are 2 1 years old.
Many parents must sell and trade away their
children like so many head of cattle ; for if their
children take the debt upon themselves, the
parents can leave the ship free and unre-
strained; but as the parents often do not know
where and to what people their children are
going, it often happens that such parents and
children, after leaving the ship, do not see each
other again for many years, perhaps no more in
all their lives.
When people arrive who cannot make them-
selves free, but have children under 5 years, the
parents cannot free themselves by them ; for
such children must be given to somebody with-
out compensation to be brought up, and they
must serve for their bringing up till they are 21
years old. Children from 5 to 10 years, who
pay half price for their passage, viz. 30 florins,
must likewise serve for it till they are 21 years
of age ; they cannot, therefore, redeem their
parents by taking the debt of the latter upon
themselves. But children above 10 years can
take
28 Journeis to iPcnns^lvanta
take part of their parents' debt upon them-
selves.
A woman must stand for her husband if he
arrives sick, and in hke manner a man for his
sick wife, and take the debt upon herself or
himself, and thus serve 5 to 6 years not alone
for his or her own debt, but also for that of the
sick husband or wife. But if both are sick, such
persons are sent from the ship to the sick-house
[hospital], but not until it appears probable that
they will find no purchasers. As soon as they
are well again they must serve for their passage,
or pay if they have means.
It often happens that whole families, husband,
wife, and children, are separated by being sold
to different purchasers, especially when they
have not paid any part of their passage money.
When a husband or wife has died at sea,
when the ship has made more than half of her
trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for
himself or herself, but also for the deceased.
When both parents have died over half-way
at sea, their children, especially when they are
young and have nothing to pawn or to pay,
must stand for their own and their parents'
passage, and serve till they are 21 years old.
When one has served his or her term, he or she
is entided to a new suit of clothes at parting ;
and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets in
addition a horse, a woman, a cow.
When
•ffn Bmerica. 29
When a serf has an opportunity to marry in
this country, he or she must pay for each year
which he or she would have yet to serve, 5 to 6
pounds. But many a one who has thus pur-
chased and paid for his bride, has subsequently
repented his bargain, so that he would gladly
have returned his exorbitantly clear ware, and
lost the money besides.
If some one in this country runs away from
his master, who has treated him harshly, he
cannot get far. Good provision has been made
for such cases, so that a runaway is soon recov-
ered. He who detains or returns a deserter
receives a eood reward.
If such a runaway has been away from his
master one day, he must serve for it as a pun-
ishment a week, for a week a month, and for a
month half a year. But if the master will not
keep the runaway after he has got him back, he
may sell him for so many years as he would
have to serve him yet.
Work and labor in this new and wild land
are very hard and manifold, and many a one
who came there in his old age must work very
hard to his end for his bread. I will not speak
of young people. Work mostly consists in
cutting wood, felling oak-trees, rooting out, or
as they say there, clearing large tracts of forest.
Such forests, being cleared, are then laid out
for
30 bournes to ipenns^lvania
for fields and meadows. From die best hewn
wood, fences are made around the new fields;
for there all meadows, orchards and fruit- fields,
are surrounded and fenced in with planks made
of thickly-split wood, laid one above the other,
as in zigzag lines, and within such enclosures,
horses, cattle, and sheep, are permitted to graze.
Our Europeans, who are purchased, must always
work hard, for new fields are constantly laid
out; and so they learn that stumps of oak-trees
are in America certainly as hard as in Germany.
In this hot land they fully experience in their
own persons what God has imposed on man for
his sin and disobedience; for in Genesis we
read the words : In the sweat of thy brow shalt
thou eat bread. Who therefore wishes to earn
his bread in a Christian and honest way, and
cannot earn it in his fatherland otherwise than
by the work of his hands, let him do so in his
own country, and not in America; for he will
not fare better in America. However hard he
may be compelled to work in his fatherland, he
will surely find it quite as hard, if not harder,
in the new country. Besides, there is not only
the long and arduous journey lasting half a
year, during which he has to suffer, more than
with the hardest work; he has also spent about
200 florins which no one will refund to him.
If he has so much money, it will slip out of his
hands ;
ffn Bmcrica. 31
hands; if he has it not, he must work his debt
off as a slave and poor serfy. Therefore let
every one stay in his own country and support
himself and his family honestly. Besides I say
that those who suffer themselves to be per-
suaded and enticed away by the man-thieves,
are very foolish if they believe that roasted
pigeons will fly into their mouths in America or
Pennsylvania without their working- for them.
How miserably and wretchedly so many
thousand German families have fared, i) since
they lost all their cash means in consequence of
the long and tedious journey; 2) because many
of them died miserably and were thrown into
the water; 3) because, on account of their great
poverty, most of these families after reaching
the land are separated from each other and sold
far away from each other, the young and the
old. And the saddest of all this is that parents
must generally give away their minor children
without receiving a compensation for them ; in-
asmuch as such children never see or meet
their fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters again,
and as many of them are not raised in any
Christian faith by the people to whom they are
given.
For there are many doctrines of faith and
sects in Pennsylvania which cannot all be enum-
erated, because many a one will not confess to
what faith he belongs.
Besides,
32 5ourne^ to Pennsylvania
Besides, there are many hundreds of adult
persons who have not been and do not even
wish to be baptized. There are many who
think nothing of the sacraments and the Holy
Bible, nor even of God and his word. Many
do not even believe that there is a true God
and devil, a heaven and a hell, salvation and
damnation, a resurrection of the dead, a judg-
ment and an eternal life; they believe that all
one can see is natural. For in Pennsylvania
every one may not only believe what he will,
but he may even say it freely and openly.
Consequently, when young persons, not yet
grounded in religion, come to serve for many
years with such free-thinkers and infidels^ and
are not sent to any church or school by such
people, especially when they live far from any
school or church. Thus it happens that such
innocent souls come to no true divine recoQf-
nition, and grow up like heathens and Indians.
A voyage is sometimes dangerous to people,
who bring money or goods away with them
from home, because much is spoiled at sea by
entering sea-water ; sometimes they are even
robbed on board the ship by dishonest people ;
so that such formerly opulent persons find
themselves in a most deplorable condition.
A sad example of a Wiirtemberger shall be
mentioned here. In the autumn of A. D. 1753
Hn Bmerfca, 33
a certain Daser of Nao^old arrived with his wife
and 8 children in a wretched and unfortunate
situation at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. For
not only was he robbed at sea of goods worth
1800 florins, but he had on that account a lonor
law -suit with the English captain of the ship at
Philadelphia, which suit, however, he did not
win, but had even to pay the cost of the litiga-
tion. Mr. Daser had to pay 600 florins for his
own passage and that of his family. But as he
had been robbed of his money, all his goods
and chattels together with the boxes were sold
at public auction or vendue for a trifling sum, so
that he became more and more distressed with
his family. Then, as he proceeded to borrow
money to purchase a plantation, he was shame-
fully cheated by his creditor. He had agreed
with him to repay the borrowed money in two
years ; but the person who made out the obli-
gation or bond, as they call it there, wrote at
the instigation of the unscrupulous creditor in
tzvo days, instead of in two years. Mr. Daser
signed this, never suspecting that he signed his
own ruin, because he did not understand En'^--
o
lish. The result was that, as he did not repay
the money in two days (N. B. He had not ever
received the money, the time having expired in
consequence of his own negligence and various
idle pretenses of the creditor), all that he still
called
34 5ourncB to Ipennsglvanla
called his own was sold and even taken away
from his body. He would even have been sent
to prison, or been compelled to sell his children,
had he not been saved by my intercession by
Captain Von Diemer, who always had a kind
and tender rei^ard for Germans. Said Captain
Von Diemer provided Mr. Daser and his family
for mercy's sake until the end of his litigation
with victuals, money, beds and shelter, at the
same time giving security for him, so that Mr.
Daser remained free from the debtors' prison.
Before my departure Captain Von Diemer
promised Mr. Daser and me with hand and
mouth that, as long as he lived, he would help
provide for the Daser family and their needs.
Mr. Daser dined with us 8 weeks and slept
with me, but his many sad reverses have made
him quite desponding and half crazy. Shortly
before my departure his two oldest daughters
and his oldest son w^ere compelled to bind
themselves in writing to serve 3 years each.
I avail myself of this opportunity to relate a
few remarkable and most disastrous cases of
shipwrecks. In the year 1754, on St. James' day,
a ship with some 360 souls on board, mostly
Wiirtembergers, Durlachers and Palatines, was
hurled by a gale in the night upon a rock betw^een
Holland and Old England. It received three
shocks, each accompanied by a tremendous
crash.
IFn Bm erica. 35
crash, and finally it split lengthwise asunder at
the bottom, so that the water entered, which rose
so fast that the ship began to sink early in the
morning. At the last extremity, when the peo-
ple endeavored to save themselves, 62, persons
sprang into a boat. But as this boat was too
overburdened, and another person reached it by
swimming, holding persistently on to it, it was
not possible to drive him away till they chopped
his hands off, when he went down. Another
person, in order to save himself; jumped on a
barrel which had fallen out of the large ship, but
which immediately capsized and sank with him.
But the passengers in the large ship held on
partly to the rigging, partly to the masts ; many
of them stood deep in the water, beat their
hands together above their heads and raised an
indescribably piteous hue and cry. As the boat
steered away, its occupants saw the large ship
with 300 souls on board sink to the bottom be-
fore their eyes. But the merciful God sent
those who had saved themselves in the boat, an
English ship that had been sailing near, and
which took the poor shipwrecks on board and
brought them back to the land. This great
disaster would never have been known in Ger-
many if the ship had gone down during the
nio^ht witli all its human freight on board.
The following fatal voyage, where all the pas-
sengers,
36 Journeg to ipenns^lvanfa
sengers were Germans, has probably not be-
come known in Germany at all. In the year
1752 a ship arrived at Philadelphia which was
fully six months at sea from Holland to Phila-
delphia. This ship had weathered many storms
throughout the winter and could not reach the
land; finally another ship came to the assistance
of the half-wrecked and starved vessel. Of
about 340 souls this ship brought 21 persons to
Philadelphia, who stated that they had not only
spent fully six months at sea, and had been
driven by the storm to the coast of Ireland, but
that most of the passengers had died by starva-
tion, that they had lost their masts and sails,
captain and mates, and that the rest would
never have reached the land if God had not sent
another ship to their aid which brought them to
the land.
There is another case of a lost ship that has
probably never been made known in Germany.
That ship sailed a few years ago with almost
exclusively German passengers, from Holland
to Philadelphia, but nothing was ever heard of
it except that a notice was afterward sent from
Holland to the merchants of Philadelphia. Such
cases of entirely lost and shipwrecked vessels
are not reported to Germany, for fear that it
might deter the people from emigrating and in-
duce them to' stay at home.
I
Ifn Bmcrtca. 37
I cannot possibly pass over in silence what
was reported to me by a reliable person in
Pennsylvania, in a packag-e of letters which left
Philadelphia Dec. lo, 1754, and came to my
hands Sept. i, 1755. These letters lament the
fact that last autumn, A. D. 1754, to the very
great burden of the country, more than 22,000
souls (there was a great emigration from Wiir-
temberg at that time) had arrived in Philadel-
phia alone, mostly Wiirtembergers, Palatines,
Durlachers and Swiss, who had been so wretch-
edly sick and poor that most of these people
had been obliged to sell their children on ac-
count of their great poverty. The country, so
the letters state, had been seriously molested
by this great mass of people, especially by the
many sick people, many of whom were still
daily filling the graves.
So long as I was there, from 20 to 24 ships
with passengers arrived at Philadelphia alone
every autumn, which amounted in 4 years to
more than 25,000 souls, exclusive of those who
died at sea or since they left home, and without
counting those ships which sailed with their
passengers to other English colonies, as New
York, Boston, Maryland, Nova Scotia and Car-
olina, whereby these colonies were filled, and
the immigrants became very unwelcome, es-
pecially in the city of Philadelphia. But that
so
38 ^ourneg to Pennsylvania
so many people emigrate to America, and par-
ticularly to Pennsylvania, is due to the decep-
tions and persuasions practised by the so-called
newlanders,
These men-thieves inveigle people of every
rank and profession, among them many soldiers,
scholars, artists and mechanics. They rob the
princes and lords of their subjects and take
them to Rotterdam or Amsterdam to be sold
there. They receive there from their merchants
for every person of lo years and over, 3 florins
or a ducat; whereas the merchants get in Phil-
adelphia 60, 70 or 80 florins for such a person,
in proportion as said person has incurred more
or less debts during the voyage. When such
a newlander has collected a "transport," and if
it does not suit him to accompany them to
America, he stays behind, passes the winter in
Holland or elsewhere; in the spring he obtains
again money in advance for emigrants from his
merchants, goes to Germany again, pretending
that he had come from Pennsylvania with the
intention of purchasing all sorts of merchandise
which he was going to take there.
Frequently these newlanders say that they
had received power-of-attorney from some
countrymen or from the authorities of Penn-
sylvania to obtain legacies or inheritances for
these countrymen; and that they would avail
themselves
1Fn Bmerica, 39
themselves of this good and sure opportunity
to take their friends, brothers or sisters, or even
their parents with them; and it has often hap-
pened that such old people follov^ed them, trust-
ing to the persuasion of these newlanders that
they vi^ould be better provided for.
Such old people they seek to get away with
them in order to entice other people to follow
them. Thus they have seduced many away
who said that if such and such relatives of theirs
went to America, they would risk it too. These
men-thieves resort to various tricks, never for-
getting to display their money before the poor
people, but which is nothing else but a bait
from Holland and accursed blood-money.
When these men-thieves persuade persons of
rank, such as nobles, learned or skilled people,
who cannot pay their passage and cannot give
security, these are treated just like ordinary
poor people, and must remain on board the
ship till some one comes and buys them from
the captain. And when they are released at
last from the ship, they must serve their lords
and masters, by whom they have been bought,
like common day-laborers. Their rank, skill
and learning avails them nothing, for here none
but laborers and mechanics are wanted. But
the worst is that such people, who are not ac-
customed to work, are treated to blows and
cuffs,
40 Journes to pennsijlvania
cuffs, like cattle, till they have learned the hard
work. Many a one, on finding himself thus
shamefully deceived by the newlanders, has
shortened his own life, or has given way to de-
spair, so that he could not be helped, or has
run away, only to fare worse afterwards than
before.
It often happens that the merchants in Hol-
land make a secret contract with their captains
and the newlanders, to the effect that the latter
must take the ships with their human freight to
another place in America, and not to Pennsyl-
vania where these people want to go, if they
think that they can elsewhere find a better
market for them. Many a one who has a good
friend or acquaintance, or a relative in Penn-
sylvania, to whose helping care he has trusted,
finds himself thus grievously disappointed in
consequence of such infamous deception, being
separated from friends whom he will never see
again either in this or in that country. Thus
emigrants are compelled in Holland to submit
to the wind and to the captain's will, because
they cannot know at sea where the ship is
steered to. But all this is the fault of the new-
landers and of some unscrupulous dealers in
human flesh in Holland.
Many people who go to Philadelphia entrust
their money, which they have brought with
them
Hn Bmcrica. 41
them from home, to these newlanders. But
these thieves often remain in Holland with the
money, or sail from there with another ship to
another English colony, so that the poor de-
frauded people, when they reach the country,
have no other choice but to serve or to sell their
children, if they have any, only to ^et away from
the ship.
The following remarkable case may serve as
an example. In 1753, a noble lady, N. V., came
with her two half-grown daughters and a young
son to Philadelphia. On the trip down the
Rhine she entrusted more than 1000 rix-dollars
to a newlander who was well known to her.
But when the ship, on which the lady had taken
passage, started from Holland, this villain re-
mained behind with the money ; in consequence
of which the lady found herself in such want
and distress that her two daughters were com-
pelled to serve. In the following spring this
poor lady sent her son to Holland to search for
the embezzler of her money ; but at the time of
my departure, A. D. 1754, nothing had been
heard of him as yet, and it was even rumored
that the young gentleman had died during his
voyage.
It is impossible, however, to discuss all these
circumstances ; besides I am sure that the new-
landers and men-thieves, on coming to Ger-
many,
42 bournes to ipennsglvania
many, never reveal the truth about these
wretched voyages full of clangers and hardships.
Frequently many letters are entrusted in
Pennsylvania and other English colonies to
newlanders who return to the old country.
When they get to Holland, they have these
letters opened, or they open them themselves,
and if any one has written the truth, his letter is
either rewritten so as to suit the purpose of these
harpies, or simply destroyed. While in Penn-
sylvania, I myself heard such men-thieves say
that there were Jews enough in Holland, ready
to furnish them for a small consideration count-
erfeits of any seal, and who could perfectly
forge any handwriting. They can imitate all
characters, marks and tokens so admirably that
even he whose handwriting they have imitated
must acknowledge it to be his own. By means
of such practices they deceive even people who
arc not credulous, thus playing their nefarious
tricks in a covert manner. They say to their
confidants that this is the best way to induce
the people to emigrate. I myself came very
near beinor deceived.
Some great merchants in Holland attempted
not to let me continue my journey home, but to
induce me by stratagem or force to return to
England and America. For they not only told
me verbally in Rotterdam, but even tried to
prove
Hn Bmcrica. 43
prove to me by writing from Amsterdam, that
my wife and child, together with my sister-in-
law and many countrymen, had embarked for
Philadelphia with the last transport last summer.
They told me very accurately the names of my
wife and child, how old and tall they were, and
that my wife had said her husband had been an
organist in Pennsylvania for four years ; they
also showed me my wife's name in a letter, and
told me with what ship and captain had sailed
from Amsterdam, and that my wife was lodged
with four other women in berth No. 22, which
circumstantial communication had the effect of
making one exceedingly confused and irreso-
lute. But I read to them letters from my wife
in which she plainly said that she would never
in all her life go there without me, on the con-
trary that she eagerly awaited my return. I
said that I had written to her aorain that I had
made up my mind to return, God willing, to
Germany next year, wherefore I could not pos-
sibly believe all this. The merchants then pro-
duced witnesses, which made me so perplexed
that I did not know what to believe or to do.
At length, however, after mature deliberation,
and no doubt by divine direction, I came to the
conclusion that, inasmuch as I had already the
greater part of my arduous journey, viz. 1400
hours way, behind me, and had arrived at the
borders
44 ^oujneg to Pennsylvania
borders of Germany, I would now in God's
name continue and finish my journey, which I
did, and thus, thanks to the Most High, I have
escaped this great temptation. For I came to
see that all that I had been told and shown in
Holland with respect to my family had been
untrue, as I found my wife and child safe at
home. If I had believed those seducers of the
people, and had returned to England and
America, not only would this account of my
journey not have been published so soon, but I
should, perhaps, never have met my family
again in this world. Those frequently men-
tioned men-thieves, as I subsequently learned,
gave an accurate account of me and my wife to
the merchants in Holland, and the newlanders
tried a second time to persuade my wife to fol-
low them. The merchants no doubt thought
that, if I returned home, I should reveal their
whole nefarious traffic and the deplorable con-
dition of the numerous families that emigrated
and rushed into their ruin, and that I should
thereby cause great damage to their shipping
interests and their traffic in human flesh.
I must state here something that I have for-
gotten above. As soon as the ships that bring
passengers from Europe have cast their anchors
in the port of Philadelphia, all male persons of
15 years and upward are placed on the follow-
ing
ITn Bmertca. 45
ing morning into a boat and led two by two to
the court-house or town-hall of the city. There
they must take the oath of allegiance to the
Crown of Great Britain, This being done, they
are taken in the same manner back to the ships.
Then the traffic in human souls begins, as re-
lated above. I only add that in purchasing
these people no one asks for references as to
good character or an honorable discharge. If
any one had escaped the gallows, and had the
rope still dangling around his neck, or if he had
left both his ears in Europe, nothing would be
put in his way in Pennsylvania. But if he is
again caught in wrong-doing, he is hopelessly
lost. For gallows' birds and wheel candidates,
Pennsylvania is, therefore, a desirable land.
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND
PENNSYLVANIA.
m^^W^SY'C^'^Wim is one of the En^-
lish settlements or colonies in North
America. It borders on the sea, and is
just in the centre between the other English
plantation lands. Far above it, in the north, are
Nova Scotia, New England, New York, and
New Jersey; below it, in the south, Maryland,
Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. From the city
of London to the point where we lose Old Eng-
land out of sight we count 325 English miles;
then, from land to land, that is from the last
land in Old England to the first land in Penn-
sylvania 3600 such miles, from there to Phila-
delphia 125 miles, which makes together 4050
English miles, or 1350 German or rather
Swabian hours. 3 English miles make a
Swabian hour, but 25 such hours make a de-
gree, just as the French land miles. When the
ships come near this land, they sail from the
ocean into the great river. This is a large bay
formed by the Delaware River, or rather, it is
(47) the
48 Description of tbe
the Delaware River itself which is very broad
here. On the way to Philadelphia one sees on
both sides a large flat land with woods here
and there. The passage from the sea, and the
entrance into the great river is in a northwest-
erly direction. The Delaware River separates
below at the entrance, the two colonies, Penn-
sylvania and Maryland, from each other, Mary-
land to the leftv Pennsylvania to the right.
While on the river, we can see much high
mountain land, especially the Blue Mountains,
and on the left hand the tall and exceedingly
beautiful cedar trees. At the entrance from
the sea the river is so broad that we can
scarcely see the land on either side. It grows
gradually narrower, and at Philadelphia the
Delaware is about half an hour wide. Here
the river has twice every 24 hours ebb and
flow from the sea. This city lies, as above
stated, 125 English miles or 40 hours journey
from the open sea, higher up in the land, hard
by said river into which most of the rivers of
this colony empty; the other waters flow into
the other great main river of Pennsylvania,
which is called Susquehanna, and empties into
the Chesapeake Bay. In Philadelphia we can
see the open sea through a field-glass.
Said city is the capital of Pennsylvania where
all the commerce is carried on. It is already
very
XanD iPennsglvanla. 49
very large, regularly and handsomely built, and
laid out with broad streets and many cross-
alleys. All the houses are built of stone or
brick up to the fourth story, and roofed with
shingles of cedar wood. It takes almost a day
to walk around the town ; about 300 new
houses are built every year. It is thought that
in time it will be one of the largest cities in
the world. The principal language and the law
of the land is English. It has no walls nor
ramparts, these being deemed unnecessary. On
two sides the city has navigable waters, toward
morning the above mentioned Delaware, and
toward midnight the Schuylkill River, both of
which join below the city. Many large and
small merchant-vessels are built there near
the water. The trade of the city and coun-
try to other countries and colonies increases
perceptibly from year to year; it consists in
fruit, flour, corn, tobacco, honey, skins, various
kinds of cosdy furs, flax, and particularly a
great deal of flax-seed or linseed, also fine
cut lumber, horses, and all kinds of tame and
wild animals. In return the incoming ves-
sels bring all sorts of goods, such as Spanish,
Portuguese and German wines, the best of
which cost a rix-dollar, the most inferior a florin
per quart. Also spices, sugar, tea, coffee, rice,
rum, which is a brandy distilled from sugar,
molasses
50 Description ot tbe
molasses, fine china vessels, Dutch and Enghsh
cloths, leather, linen, stuffs, silks, damask, vel-
vet, etc. There is actually everything to be
had in Pennsylvania that may be obtained in
Europe, because so many merchantmen land
here every year. Ships are coming from Hol-
land, Old and New England, Scodand, Ireland,
Spain, Portugal, Maryland, New York, Car-
olina, and from the West and East Indies.
By "West Indies" the people of Pennsylvania
mean the Spanish and Portuguese America, and
also the American Islands, whether they belong
to the Enolish or to other nations.
In Philadelphia there is a new and splendid
court or town house, which is very high and
has four doors and four entrances. It is lOO
feet Ion or and lOO feet wide, stands free, and has
tall English plate [glass] windows. In this town
there are already eight churches, three English,
three German, one Swedish, and one Quaker
church. In the last named one can often hear
and see a woman preach in English, but no
singing is heard in this class [sect], because
they don't believe in singing. After the sermon
is over, he who has objections against the ser-
mon steps forth and explains his opinion ; and
then one can often hear two persons disputing
before the whole assemblage, which lasts some-
times longer than the sermon.
5LanD IPennsiglvanla. 51
A gymnasium [college] has also been estab-
lished in the city, where several languages are
taught ; for in this city and country people from
every part of the world can be seen, especially
Europeans, of whom one could count more than
a hundred thousand. The Germans are most
numerous among the inhabitants of Pennsyl-
vania. Many of these Germans study diverse
languages in said gymnasium.
In the court house of Philadelphia, four prin-
cipal courts are annually held, and public judg-
ment is passed in all occurring cases. Young
and old may enter the court-room on such
court-days and hear what is tried and tran-
sacted, and which often gives rise to a terrible
laughter among the audience.
I will quote here but one example out of
many. One day the following case was tried
in the court: An unmarried woman, who had
suffered herself to be got with child, and who
wanted the man who was responsible for her
condition to marry her, stated that he had forced
her to the act. Both parties being summoned
and heard, the defendant in the case would
neither hear nor answer, but looked rigidly and
immovably at the gendemen Assimle [gende-
men of the Assembly, i, e., judges], no matter
what they said and asked, he having been in-
structed to act thus by his lawyer. After they
had
52 Description of tbe
had tried it with him long enough, and when he
was to go to prison, which was shouted aloud
into his ear, he suddenly recovered his hearing.
He excused himself, asked pardon, and said
that when he forced the woman she screamed
so terribly that he lost his hearing. But the
woman started up and said: O, you godless
rogue, how can you say so ? I did not speak a
word at that time. Which he admitted, and
said that was true, he only wanted this confes-
sion from her. And why did she not cry?
There had been people enough sleeping in the
house that night. Whereupon she replied, if
she had thought that she would get with child
this time she would surely have cried for help.
This called forth loud laughter among the
young and old, and the defendant was acquitted
of the charofe ag^ainst him.
I will here quote another story which did not
turn out so favorably for the man implicated in
it. A purchased woman servant in an English
house became pregnant by her master's pur-
chased man servant. Being no longer able to
conceal her condition, she reported it to her
master, who was a Justice, which means as
much as a judge or alderman. The master
who was very angry over this lapse, said
at last, from compassion with her: She would
do herself a great wrong if she charged that
loose
XanD ipcnnsslvanla. 53
loose bird with being the father of her child ;
for in the first place his time of serving would
not expire before a long time yet, and then he
did not call a farthing his own, and besides she
knew herself that he was a spendthrift and
would never be able to support her and her
child. But if she would follow him he would
give her better advice, so that she and her
child would be provided for in the future. The
afflicted woman was very anxious to know it,
and promised her master to follow his advice,
entreating him to tell her wherein it consisted.
Her master then warned her earnestly not to
betray him, and told her to go to another Jus-
tice, because he as her master might be consid-
ered too partial in this case, and charge another
unmarried man, whose name and good circum-
stances were well known to her, with beino- the
father of her child ; but she must stand to it
[stick to it or, swear to it]. This advice
pleased the woman quite well ; but on further
consideration she went to another Justice, re-
vealed her condition to him and stated that her
master himself was the father of her child, and
that she could stand to it, although her master
would not confess it ; being a widower, he could
and should keep her now. The Justice then
administered the oath to her according to the
English law ; this is done by kissing the Bible.
As
54 Descriptton of tbe
As soon as this was done he sent a constable
for her master, this is customary in the land,
and subjected him to a hearing. But as he
would not confess, he had to go to prison and
stay there so long till he promised in writing
either to marry his pregnant servant woman or
to pay her 200 pounds, which is 1200 florins in
German money. Under such circumstances he
chose to marry his servant woman, rather than
give her 1200 florins. He himself acknowl-
edged this as right and just, because he had
advised her to charg^e an innocent man with
being the father of her child. He was married
to her on the spot. Such and similar cases
happen frequently in that country, mainly be-
cause the women enjoy such great liberties and
privileges.
Coming to speak of Pennsylvania again, that
colony possesses great liberties above all other
English colonies, inasmuch as all religious sects
are tolerated there. We find there Lutherans,
Reformed, Catholics, Quakers, Mennonists or
Anabaptists, Herrnhuters or Moravian Breth-
ren, Pietists, Seventh Day Baptists, Dunkers,
Presbyterians, Newborn, Freemasons, Sepa-
ratists, Freethinkers, Jews, Mohammedans,
Pagans, Negroes and Indians. The Evangeli-
cals and Reformed, however, are in the major-
ity. But there are many hundred unbaptized
souls
XanO ipenns^lvania. 55
souls there that do not even wish to be bap-
tized. Many pray neither in the morning nor
in the evening, neither before nor after meals.
No devotional book, not to speak of a Bible,
will be found with such people. In one house
and one family, 4, 5, and even 6 sects, may be
found.
Liberty in Pennsylvania extends so far that
every one is free from all molestation and taxa-
tion on his property, business, house and es-
tates. On a hundred acres of land a tax of no
more than an English shilling is paid annually,
which is called ground-rent or quit-rent ; a shil-
ling is about 18 kreuzers of German money. A
peculiarity, however, is that unmarried men and
women pay from 2 to 5 shillings annually, ac-
cording to their income, because they have no
one but themselves to provide for. In Phila-
delphia this money is applied to the purchase of
the lights which burn every night in the streets
of the city.
This country was granted by the King of
England to a distinguished Quaker named
Penn, from whom the land of Pennsylvania
takes its name. Even now there are some
young Lords Von Penn who, however, do not
reside in the country, but in London, in Old
England. A. D. 1 754, a young Lord Von Penn
was in the country. He renewed and con-
firmed
56 Description ot tbc
firmed all the former liberties with his signature,
and made many presents to the Indians or
savaores.
No trade or profession in Pennsylvania is
bound by guilds; every one may carry on
whatever business he will or can, and if any
one could or w-ould carry on ten trades; no one
would have a right to prevent him ; and if, for
instance, a lad as an apprentice, or through his
own unaided exertions, learns his art or trade
in six months, he can pass for a master, and
may marry whenever he chooses. It is a sur-
prising fact that young people who were born
in this new land, are very clever, docile and
skilful ; for many a one looks at a work of skill
or art only a few times, and imitates it immedi-
ately, while in Germany many a one has to
learn for years to do the same thing perfectly.
But here many a one is able to produce the
most artful things in a short time. When the
young folks have gone to school for six months,
they are generally able to read anything.
The land of Pennsylvania is a healthy land ;
it has for the most part good soil, good air and
water, many high mountains, and also much flat
land ; it is very rich in wood ; where it is not
inhabited a pure forest in which many small and
large waters flow. The land is also very fertile,
and all sorts of grain grow well. It is quite
populous,
XanD IPcnnsBlvania. 57
populous, too, inhabited far and wide, and sev-
eral new towns have been founded here and
there, as Philadelphia, Germantown, Lancaster,
Rittengstaun [Reading], Bethlehem, and New-
Frankfurt [Frankford]. There are also many
churches built in the country ; but many people
have to go a journey of 2, 3, 4, 5 to 10 hours to
get to church; but all people, men and women,
ride to church on horseback, though they had
only half an hour to walk, which is customary
also at funerals and weddings. Sometimes one
can count at such country weddings and funer-
als 300, 400, and even 500 persons on horse-
back. It may be readily imagined that on such
occasions, as also at the holy communion, no
one appears in black clothes, crapes, or cloaks.
I will give a somewhat more detailed account
of the funeral customs. When some one has
died, especially in the country, where on account
of the intervening plantations and forests peo-
ple live far from one another, the time appointed
for the funeral is always indicated only to the 4
nearest neighbors ; each of these in his turn
notifies his own nearest neighbor. In this man-
ner such an invitation to a funeral is made
known more than fifty English miles around in
24 hours. If it is possible, one or more per-
sons from each house appear on horseback at
the appointed time to attend the funeral. While
the
58 2)e0crlptlon ot tbe
the people are coming in, good cake cut into
pieces is handed around on a large tin platter
to those present; each person receives then in
a goblet, a hot West India Rum punch, into
which lemon, sugar and juniper berries are put,
which orive it a delicious taste. After this, hot
and sweetened cider is served. This custom at
the funeral assemblies in America is just the
same as that at the wedding gatherings in
Europe. When the people have nearly all
assembled, and the time for the burial has
come, the dead body is carried to the general
burial-place, or where that is too far away, the
deceased is buried in his own field. The as-
sembled people ride all in silence behind the
coffin, and sometimes one can count from lOO
to 500 persons on horseback. The coffins are
all made of fine walnut wood and stained brown
with a shining varnish. Well-to-do people have
four finely-wrought brass handles attached to
the coffin, by which the latter is held and carried
to the grave. If the deceased person was a
young man, the body is carried to the grave by
four maidens, while that of a deceased maiden
is carried by four unmarried men.
It is no unusual thing in this countr}^ to hear
a totally unlearned man preaching in the open
field, for the sectarians say and believe that the
scholars of the present day are no longer
apostles,
%nr\t> lpenn6i2lvania. 59
apostles, and that they are only making a trade
of their learning. Nevertheless, there are many
excellent preachers in Pennsylvania who, by the
grace of God and by their indefatigable toil,
have converted many souls to the Christian
faith; I myself have witnessed how our evan-
gelical ministers have baptized and confirmed
many adult persons, both white and black.
Such an act is always attended by a large con-
course of people. But I am sorry to say that
there are also quite unworthy preachers who
give offence to many people, and who furnish
the sectarians with arguments, to the great
annoyance of our ministers. I will quote here
an example of such an objectionable preacher.
One by the name of Alexander, of Oley town-
ship, said in a meeting of young farmers, with
whom he had been drinking and carousing, that
he would preach so that all his hearers who
stood in front of him would weep, but those
that stood behind him must all laugh. To this
effect he bet a considerable sum with said young
farmers. On the appointed day he appeared
at a church-meeting, took his stand in the
middle of the people, and began to hold a touch-
ing and pathetic sermon. Seeing that his hear-
ers were moved to tears, he put his hands
behind him, drew his coat-tails asunder, exhibit-
ing a pair of badly-torn breeches through which
his
60 Description ot tbe
his bare posterior, which he scratched with one
hand, shone forth, so that those who stood be-
hind him could not help roaring with laughter.
Thus he had won his wager. This disgusting
affair was published in the English and German
newspapers of Philadelphia. The sectarians
said often to those of our own faith that such
men were the false prophets that went about in
sheep's clothing, but were in fact rapacious
wolves. But this is a source of great annoy-
ance and vexation to all righteous teachers and
good pastors.
There are at present many good English,
Swedish, Dutch and German preachers of the
Lutheran and the Reformed churches in Penn-
sylvania, of whom the following are very well
known to me. Among the English, the three
brothers Tennent and Mr. Dait. Three Swed-
ish ministers who are very closely associated
with our preachers and hold yearly conferences
with them. But the German Evangelical Luth-
eran preachers are: Mr. Muhlenberg, senior,
in Providence township and New Hanover.
Mr. Bruxholz, in Philadelphia. Mr. Hand-
scHUH, in Germantown, Mr. Kurz, in Tul-
pehocken. Mr. Wagner, in Readingstoun
( Reading). Mr. Heinzelmann, in Philadelphia.
Mr. ScHULz, Mr. Weygand, Mr. Schrenk, Mr.
Schartel, in the Blue Mountains. Mr. Hart-
WICH,
XanD Pennsylvania. 61
wiCH, in New York. Mr. Gorack, in Lancas-
ter. Reformed ministers are ; Mr. Schlatter,
Mr. Steiner, Mr. Siebele, Mr. Weiss, Mr.
Michael, Mr. Streitter, and Mr. Laidig, with-
out mentioning the Dutch and others whose
names are not known to me.
The preachers in Pennsylvania receive no
salaries or tithes, except what they annually get
from their church members, which varies very
much ; for many a father of a family gives ac-
cording to his means and of his own free will 2,
3, 4, 5 or 6 florins a year, but many others give
very little. For baptizing children, for funeral
sermons and marriage ceremonies they gener-
ally receive a dollar. The preachers have no
free dwellings or other beneficia. But they re-
ceive many presents from their parishioners.
The same is true of the schoolmasters. But
since 1754 England and Holland give annually
a large sum of money for the general benefit of
the many poor in Pennsylvania, and for the
support of 6 Reformed English churches and as
many Reformed English free schools. Never-
theless, many hundred children cannot attend
these schools, on account of their great distance
and the many forests. Many planters lead,
therefore, a very wild and heathenish life ; for
as it is with the schools, so it is also with the
churches in the rural districts, because churches
and
62 Description of tbe
and school-houses are usually built around at
such places only, where most neighbors and
church members live/-'
The preachers throughout Pennsylvania have
no power to punish any one, or to compel any
one to go to church ; nor lias any one a right
* In an English publication, which treats of the condition
of the immigrants who have settled in Penns}'lvania, Vir-
ginia, Maryland, etc., the following is reported among other
things : From the most trustworthy accounts which we have
of these provinces, it appears that the number of immi-
grants there has increased exceedingly within the last few
years. They consist for the most part of Palatines, Fran-
conians, and Swiss. In the Colony of Pennsylvania alone
there are over 100,000; of these about 20,000 belong to
the Reformed, nearly as many to the Lutheran, and about
1700 to the Roman Catholic religion. The rest consists
of Anabaptists, Moravians, Brethren of Zion, Rondorfers,
and other Separatists. As among the latter almost every
one is his own teacher, it may be said of them that they
have their tenets (if the inanities of these people may be
called so) better by heart than many of the other denomi-
nations ; for although not a few pious and illumined Chris-
tians may be found among the latter, by far the majority
live in the deepest ignorance, which must be ascribed to
the want of sufficient preachers and schoolmasters, the in-
habitants lacking the means for their support. The author
of this publication closes with the wish that the nation of
Great Britain might duly consider the condition of their
brethren, both in a spiritual and worldly aspect, and do for
them what is necessarj^ to have in them a constant bulwark
in America against all their enemies.
to
ILanD Pennsylvania. 63
to dictate to the other, because they are not
supported by any Consistoi'io. Most preachers
are hired by the year hke the cowherds in Ger-
many; and if one does not preach to their Hk-
ing, he must expect to be served with a notice
that his services will no longer be required. It
is, therefore, very difficult to be a conscientious
preacher, especially as they have to hear and
suffer much from so many hostile and often
wicked sects. The most exemplary preachers
are often reviled, insulted and scoffed at like
the Jews, by the young and old, especially in
the country I would, therefore, rather perform
the meanest herdsman's duties in Germany
than be a preacher in Pennsylvania. Such
unheard-of rudeness and wickedness spring
from the excessive liberties of the land, and
from the blind zeal of the many sects. To
many a one's soul and body, liberty in Penn-
sylvania is more hurtful than useful. There is
a saying in that country: Pennsylvania is the
heaven of the farmers, the paradise of the
mechanics, and the hell of the officials and
preachers.
The Governor in my time, had his residence
in Philadelphia, his name was Hamilton. Every
6 years a new Governor is elected by the King
and Parliament of England, and sent there
to govern in the name of the King; but the
land
64 Description ot tbe
land and most of the revenues belone to a
Quaker by the name of Penn, hence also the
city of Philadelphia and the land are densely
peopled by Quakers.
Provisions are cheap in Pennsylvania, but
everything that is manufactured and brought
into the country is three or four times as dear
as in" Germany. Wood, salt and sugar, ex-
cepted. Otherwise we can purchase in Ger-
many as much with one florin as here with 4 or
5 florins. Nevertheless, the people live well,
especially on all sorts of grain, which thrives
very well, because the soil is wild and fat.
They grow chiefly rye, wheat, barley, oats,
buckwheat, corn, flax, hemp, fruit, cabbage and
turnips. They also have good cattle, fast
horses, and many bees. The sheep, which are
larger than the German ones, have generally
two lambs a year. Hogs and poultry, especially
turkeys, are raised by almost everybody. In
this country the chickens are not put in houses
by night, nor are they looked after; but they
sit summer and winter upon the trees near the
houses; every evening many a tree is so full of
chickens that the boughs bend beneath them.
The poultry is in no danger from beasts of prey,
because every plantation owner has a big dog,
if not more, at large around his house.
Even in the humblest and poorest houses in
this
ILanO IPenns^lvania. 65
this country there is no meal without meat, and
no one eats the bread without butter or cheese,
although the bread is as good as with us. It is
very annoying, however, that nothing but salt
meat is eaten in summer, and rarely fresh meat
in winter.
On account of the extensive stock-raising,
meat is very cheap ; one can buy the best beef
for 3 kreuzers a pound, pork and mutton for 2
kreuzers and 3 hellers. Besides, one can buy
at the market of Philadelphia many kinds of
meat, venison, poultry, fish and birds, as one
chooses, for very litde money. I don't think
that there is any country in which more meat is
eaten and consumed than in Pennsylvania.
The English know litde or nothing of soup
eating ; bread and butter and cheese are always
their dessert, and because sugar, tea and coffee,
are very cheap, they drink coffee and the like
2 or 3 times daily. The common sugar costs
10 kr. a pound, the best 15 kr. Coffee is of the
same price ; rice costs 3 kr. a pound. Ve^-e-
tables of every description are raised in abund-
ance. A bushel of salt can be bought for 15
kr., and timber and wood for fuel every one has
for nothing. Market is held twice a week in
Philadelphia; it always attracts a great con-
course of people. The ordinary meat stalls
which are over 100 feet long, hang on both
sides
66 ©escription ot tbc
sides full of all kinds of meat, which is always
bought up and consumed by the numerous
population, not to mention the many fish, game,
all sorts of poultry, and especially the marvel-
ously large lobsters, whose claws are each as
laree as a man's hand.
Turtles I often saw of a size that it took a
man to carry one. A hen costs 6 kreuzers, and
eggs are sometimes to be had 20 for a hatzen
{4 kr.). A turkey is worth 24 to 30 kr. A
bushel of rye, 2 shillings, or 36 kr. A bushel
of good wheat, 3 shillings or 54 kr. Fruit sells
well ; it is mostly taken across the sea to other
countries. But all other goods cost twice or
three times as much as in Germany, because
they have to be taken all the way there ; there-
fore, what can be bought for a llorin in Ger-
many, costs 4 or 5 tl. in Pennsylvania and the
neio-hborincr countries. Domestic linen, which
costs from 15 to 18 kreuzers in Germany, brings
40 kr. or even a llorin in these English colonies.
A pair of man's shoes costs 2 to 3 florins, and
even more ; a pair of stockings quite as much.
Of beverages there are many kinds in Penn-
sylvania and the other English colonies ; in the
first place, delicious and healthy water; sec-
ondly, they make a mixture of milk and three
parts water ; thirdly, good apple cider ; fourthly,
small beer; fifthly, delicious English strong,
sweet
XanD ipcnns^lvania. 67
sweet beer; sixthly, punch, which consists of
three parts water and one part West India rum
(when no rum is to be had, brandy is taken, but
rum is much pleasanter), mixed with sugar and
lemon juice ; seventhly, sinkere [sangaree],
which is still more delicious to drink ; this is
made of two parts water and one part Spanish
wine with sugar and nutmeg ; and eighthly,
German and Spanish wines, to be had plentifully
at all taverns ; of the latter, a quart costs a rix-
dollar. Mixed drinks are all drunk from china
vessels, which are called poole [bowls], and are
formed like a soup-dish.
All trades and professions have good earn-
ings ; beggars are nowhere to be seen, for each
county or township cares and provides for its
poor. In the country the people live so far
from one another that many a one has to walk
fifteen minutes or half an hour to get to his
nearest neighbor. The reason is because many
a farmer has 50 or 100 and even 200 — 400
acres of land, laid out in orchards, meadows,
fields and woods. Such a one has usually 10,
15 or 20 acres in orchards alone, from which a
great deal of cider and brandy is made.
Peach and cherry trees many a farmer plants
in whole avenues from one plantation to the
other, and they yield an abundant crop. One
sort of peaches are inside and outside red, as
large
68 Description of tbe
large as a lemon, but round and smooth, and
they are ripe about St, Bartholomew's day.
Again there are some waxen yellow, red
streaked, and green as grass. There is also a
sort called clingstones; they are sweet when
they are ripe ; they are often preserved before
they are quite ripe, like cucumbers. Pears
there are but few, and damsons none, because
they will not thrive and are often spoiled by the
mildew.
Every farmer pastures his cattle, horses and
sheep on his own farm, or lets them run about
in the bushes, and brings them home in the
evening and morning to have the cows milked,
and then lets them run at largre agfain all nicrht
till morning; so that the animals find their own
food and need not be fed daily as in Germany.
No catde are stabled during the summer,
except when a cow is to calve; but frequently
one seeks and finds the old and the young
together in the forest, or a cow comes unex-
pectedly home with her calf. Throughout the
whole province no shepherd or cowherd is
needed, because all cattle and sheep are kept
in fenced fields or let run at large in the fields,
where they find plenty of food and moreover
spoil much in many places.
In the rural districts of Pennsylvania the new-
born children are not brought to church to re-
ceive
XanO ipenns^lvanfa. 69
ceive the holy baptism till they are a fortnight,
several weeks, three or six months, and some-
times a whole year old; so that such large and
wild children often kick at the preacher or
baptist, thus giving rise to laughter. Many
Pennsylvanian mothers are in the habit of suck-
ling their unruly babies in church, even during
the holy baptism. Many parents act as spon-
sors for their own children, because they have
no faith or confidence in other people in this
important point; for which they are not to be
blamed, for many a one will not say what he
believes. Others, although baptized them-
selves, will not permit their children to be bap-
tized. When questioned about it they answer
they can see no difference between the baptized
and the unbaptized young people; that no one
keeps his baptismal vows, and that it is not
necessary, therefore, to pay the minister a dol-
lar for it. In my school in Pennsylvania I had
many adult persons of either sex who, in
answer to my question if they had been bap-
tized, said: No, what's the use of it? Where-
upon I endeavored to shake their unbelief by
quoting Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus,
and thus I brought many young people to a
recognition of the necessity of the holy baptism,
so that they became quite anxious and desired
to be baptized. Some were also eager to learn
the
70 Description of tbe
the principal points of the whole Evangelical
Christian doctrine, which many parents would
not permit, saying that they did not send their
children to school to learn a faith, but to learn
to read and write as much as was necessary.
In Pennsylvania, as throughout North Amer-
ica, from Acadia to Mexico, plenty of wild
black and white vines may be seen, which grow
in the forests around the oak-trees and along
the hedges. Many a vine is at the bottom as
thick as a tree, and it often is so full of grapes
that the boughs of the trees bend beneath them.
In the blossom time the grapes have a very
strong odor, and in October they are ripe.
They make some wine of them, but it costs
much sugar. Large quantities of grapes are
taken to the market of Philadelphia. Such
grapes would be much better if the vines w^ere
cut as in Europe ; but as the people live too far
apart, and as the wild animals and birds would
do much injury to the vines, there will be no
vine growing for a long time to come.
Sassafras trees, which are not to be found in
Europe, are plentiful here ; the best breast-tea
can be made of its blossoms ; the wood and the
roots are especially good for medicines. There
are trees that are as thick as a man around the
loins. The leaves look and smell like laurel
leaves ; the blossoms are gold-colored, just like
the
XanD iPennsislvania. 71
the primrose, but much finer. For my home-
journey, I collected and took with me a package
of sassafras flowers or blossoms, which were
my best medicine on my voyage.
There are many sugar- trees* here which are
as thick and high as an oak-tree; in spring,
when they are in full sap, the sugar-water may
be tapped from them. I tried it myself, and in
March when they begin to flow, I bored a hole
at the bottom of the tree through the bark and
inserted a small tube made of a quill, through
which the sugar-water flowed, just as one clari-
fies brandy. In fifteen minutes I had a small
tumbler full of sugar-water. The people who
gather such sugar- water, fill a kettle with it and
let it boil till it is thick, and when it has become
cold it is a thick honey. The sugar-trees
usually stand in forests near the brooks, and
they grow wild.
The beautiful tulip-trees f grow frequently
there. In the month of May, when they are in
blossoms, they are full of tulips; these look
yellow and tabbied red, and are as natural as
* This species of trees is described under the name of
maple-trees in the History of the French Colonies of North
America, p. 213. M. De Diereville calls them wild fig-trees.
t These tulip-trees are known to the French in Louisiana
under the name of tulipier as a sort of laurel-trees. See
the above quoted book, p. 334.
those
Description ot tbe
those that grow out of the ground [from bulbs].
The trees are as thick and high as the tallest
cherry-trees. I saw another species of tulip-
trees with their blossoms, which are planted in
the gardens, but are not larger than dwarf apple
or pear trees ; they do not bloom until August,
and are white and tabbied red. Of the first-
named larger species of tulip-trees no blossoms
are seen until they are 20 years old and over.
Many other kinds and species of trees, flowers
and herbs, and also grain are found in America.
The daisy, for instance, which is so frequent and
therefore so litde esteemed with us, is as rare
in Pennsylvania as the rarest and most beautiful
flowers in Europe can be, for it is planted in the
gardens as a rare flower. Quite as rare there,
is the juniper-shrub, which is esteemed much
higher than the rosemary with us, and the
juniper-berries are sold for a higher price than
peppercorns. The juniper-shrubs are also cul-
tivated in gardens. Quite as rare are all other
European flowers and herbs. And so, what is
not highly esteemed in Germany is rare and
dear in America; and vice-versa, what is not
highly esteemed here is precious in Germany.
The Germans who have emigrated to America
miss many good things there, the Wijrtemberg-
ers and Rhinelanders especially the generous
juice of the grape.
All
XauD Pennsylvania. 73
All through Pennsylvania not a single
meadow-saffron is seen in the gardens and
meadows in autumn.
The wood in the above-named new country-
grows fast and is much taller, but less durable
than with us. It is quite surprising how dense
the forests are, and what beautiful, smooth,
thick and tall trees they contain. There are
many kinds of trees, mosdy oaks, but they are
not so fruitful as those in Germany. After
these there are also beech-trees, but not many.
Birch- trees are rarely found, but I saw some
that were very tall and as thick as a thick oak-
tree. I have already spoken of the poplars;
they have soft wood which looks snow-white
inside; there are many of them. Walnut-trees
are exceedingly plentiful ; this beautiful coffee-
brown and hard wood is precious and useful,
because all sorts of fine and elegant household
furniture are made of it. When cut, a great
deal of it is shipped to Holland, England, Ire-
land and other countries where it brines a hieh
price. These walnut-trees bear every year nuts
which are as large as a medium-sized apple,
from which much oil is made. They have bark
and leaves like our large nut-trees. Our large
German walnut-trees are little cultivated as yet.
There are but few hazel-nut shrubs in the
forests, but of chestnut-trees there is a multi-
tude ;
74 2)e0crlption of tbe
tude; no less so of Hecker (hickory) nuts which
are larger than hazel-nuts, but are held in litde
esteem. Indian or wild-cherry trees are not
seen very frequendy; I myself broke such
Indian cherries from the trees and ate them, but
they are not so good as European cherries. In
the Pennsylvania forests one finds no thorn or
sloe hedges, no downy gooseberries and the
like. The greatest ornament of the forests are
the beautiful and excellent cedar-trees; they
grow mostly in the high mountains. This wood
has a very strong odor, is as light as foam, and
especially precious for organ-pipes; for the
pipes made of said cedar-wood have a much
finer and purer tone than those of tin, of which
I have seen sufficient proofs. All houses in
Philadelphia are roofed with shingles of cedar-
wood. When a heavy rain pours down upon
it, this wood sounds like a roof of copper or
brass.
No May-bugs or cock-chafers are seen in this
country in spring ; but every fifth year it has a
terrible plague of vermin caWed Locki's [locusts],*
which are somewhat larger than the May-bugs
and can do immense injury to fields and forests.
Red and white snails are not found here, and
the frogs have a very different voice. They do
* This creature seems to be a species of grasshoppers.
Perhaps the word Lockis is derived from Locusta.
not
XanD ipennsi^lvanfa. 75
not croak or quack, but yelp. And this yelping
begins as early as March.
In America there are quite different kinds of
birds to be seen from those in Europe. Of
birds which are precisely like our European
ones, no others are found but ravens, swallows,
and the little hedge-sparrows. The American
birds are most beautiful ; their splendid colors
and lovely song are above all praise. In the
first place there are birds which are yellow and
have black wings ; secondly, red ones with black
wings ; thirdly, altogether yellow ones ; fourthly,
starlings which are larger than ours, look quite
blue and have red wings ; fifthly, brilliant red
ones with plumes on their head ; sixthly, entirely
blue ones ; seventhly, white ones with black
wings ; eighthly, many-colored ones ; ninthly,
grass-green ones with red heads ; tenthly, there
is a species which is black, white and pied.
These birds can imitate the singing and whist-
ling of all birds ; in half an hour such a bird can
imitate more than 30 birds successfully. There
is a species of birds that call in summer all day
long quite plainly: "Get you gone! Get you
gone ! " Another, which is heard mostly by
night, calls : "Wipperwill ! Wipperwill ! " [Whip-
poor-Will] ; it is called by that name. We find
in Pennsylvania no storks, no magpie, no cuckoo,
no lark, no yellow-hammer, no nightingale, no
quail,
76 Description of tbe
quail, no thistle-bird or gold-finch, no canary-
bird, no black-bird, no tom-tit, no robin-red-
breast, no red-wing, and no sparrow. It may be
that some of the Pennsylvania birds resemble the
above-named somewhat, but they are not alto-
gether like them ; there is a difference either in
size, or in color, or in the song, or in something
else. Thus we mio-ht consider the bird that calls
out his " Get you gone ! " in almost the same
measure in which our quails call, as a quail ; but
it has a small tail, such as our quails do not have.
The most wonderful bird, not only in Penn-
sylvania, but perhaps in the whole world, is a
small bird which is rarely seen. This little bird
is not quite so large as a May-bug, but only
as larofe as a orold-bird. It orlitters like orold,
and sometimes it appears green, blue and
red. Its beak is rather long, and as sharp as a
needle ; its feet are like fine wire. It sips only
the honey from the flowers ; hence it has the
name of su^ar-bird.* It builds its nest in the
flowers
* Father Charlevoix describes it under the name of fly-
bird, and shows that it is even handsomer than the hum-
ming-bird. See the History and Trade of the French
Colonies of North America, published by Mezler, p. 248.
But we will hear another author with respect to this rare
bird. This is M. De Diereville, in his Journey to Acadia,
which is found in the Collection of Journeys, published in
Gottingen.
UauD ipcnns^lvania. 77
flowers in a garden ; the nest is not larger than
a cupping-glass, but there are generally 4 or 5
young ones in it. It moves its wings with in-
describable swiftness, making a loud hissing
with
Gottingen. From his work, p. 237, we quote the following :
We shall now speak of little birds whose eggs have no such
depredations to fear, because they are no larger than hemp-
seed ; these are the eggs of the humming-birds or fly-birds,
which are the finest in the world, and whose colors are so
lively that it seems as if they emitted fiery sparks beneath
their throats, especially the males. It is impossible to im-
agine anything more varied and at the same time more
brilliant than these colors. But these birds are only seen
at the time of the year when there are flowers, for they fly
like bees from one to the other, in order to sip the sweet
juice from the pale as well as the reddish ones. All these
various movements they perform with the utmost swiftness ;
no other bird equals them in this respect, and they can
scarcely be seen when they whir through the air. The
same nimbleness they show in all that they do. They do
not, for instance, settle upon the flowers in order to suck
the sweet honey-juice concealed in their delicate tubes ;
but they only flap their wings incessantly and with such
swiftness around the flower that it is impossible to describe
it. The way how nature, the wise moulder, has formed the
beak and tongue of these little birds is really admirable.
Their black and thin, pointed and almost perfectly straight
beak is about a finger's breadth in length ; their delicate
split tongue is twice as long. Inserting the latter into a
flower and moving it constantly, they fill it with the sweet-
ness contained in every flower.
By
78 Descriptton of tbe
with them. When it does not fly, one can hear
it sing very softly and gracefully when one
is fortunate enough to get quite near it. I
By means of a natural force peculiar to the tongue this
juice is subsequently led into their little stomachs, and it
constitutes their sole food. They have a light gray belly, a
silver-green back, and a black tail with white spots ; their
black wings and legs fit their little bodies perfectly; the
body is no thicker than the point of a child's finger. And
in The Account of Nova Scotia, 8mo, Frankfort, 1750, p.
174 f., this bird is described as follows: Among all birds
that occur here the most curious is the murmur (hummer,
humming-bird), of which there are two species. The one
is exceedingly small, with all its feathers not larger than a
small fly. The other makes a big noise in the ears like
the humming of a large fly, which is not much larger.
Its claws, which are of the length of a thumb's breadth,
seem to be fine needles, and so also its beak, which is
merely the case of another beak which it puts out and
sticks into the middle of the flowers, in order to extract
the honey which is its food. In short, this creature is wor-
thy to be called an ornament of nature. This bird w^ears
a black plume on its crest which is of extraordinary beauty ;
its breast resembles the most beautiful rose-color one can
see, and its belly is as white as milk. Its back, wings
and tail are of the finest gray color that resembles a
rose, and shaded all around with a brilliant gold color.
Its down, which can hardly be seen, and which covers
its whole plumage, is wavelike, which gives it so delicate
an appearance that it resembles a flower; all this
is so delicate and pretty that it is impossible to de-
scribe it.
will
!ILan5 ipenns^lvanla. 7»
will not say for how much money this little bird
is sometimes bought by great people. But
they do not live long, as it is impossible to fur-
nish them with their proper food.
In Pennsylvania multitudes of fish can be
caught every spring in the Delaware and
Schuylkill rivers, and lots of wild pigeons can
be shot twice a year, viz., in spring when they
migrate to the north, and in fall when they
come back and migrate to the south. The fish
ascend at their season from the sea, and what
are not caught go about the end of May back
into the sea. These fish are an ell long and
almost half an ell broad ; so many are often
caught that many a one salts a whole barrel or
tub full of them, enough for a year ; when one
wants to eat some, they are laid in fresh water
over night, then washed and fried. In the same
manner the pigeons, too, are salted and eaten
in winter.*
There is not so much game and wild-fowl
around Philadelphia as there formerly was, be-
cause that region is thickly inhabited, and be-
cause every one may shoot what he will. But
the farther one gets into the country the less it
is inhabited, and the more one finds of all kinds
of game, especially much feathered game, and
* With respect to these pigeons, see above quoted book,
p. 306.
many
«o Description of tbe
many a one supports himself in this country by
hunting.
In Pennsylvania one finds in summer time
many species of snakes and other vermin,
especially in the Blue Mountains. Many a
snake, lo, 12, 15, and even 18 feet long has
been seen there, and many persons and animals
have been mortally bitten by these terrible and
dangerous creatures. There are black and
vi^hite, green and gray snakes, also black ones
with yellow stripes. Among these the rattle-
snakes are the largest and worst; but in some
respects the black snakes, which are 12 to 1 5
feet long, and as thick as an arm, are even more
dangerous, inasmuch as they have a marvelous
power to charm, and that only by their steady
glance ; so that every creature, be it a hare, a
bird or a squirrel, must come down from the
trees and close up to them, when they pounce
upon it and devour it.* They can climb the
tallest oaks and other trees, and they are also
able to charm little children, so that they must
stand still before them. The children cry pite-
* This account sounds rather strange, and I should be
inclined to regard it as a fable palmed off upon the author
if I had not read the same in the Description of Nova
Scotia, above alluded to, pp. 213, 214. But here the
power of fascinating is ascribed to the rattle-snakes, while
our author attributes it to the black snakes,
ously,
XanO ipenns^lvania. 81
ously, and it has often happened that they were
saved, and that large snakes were found lying
before them. The rattle-snakes are in part
even larger than the above-mentioned species ;
many of them are more than i8 feet long and
as thick as a hay pole. These snakes have at
their rear end rattle-tails with which they can
rattle so that it can be heard from afar. They
rattle whenever they are angry or see any-
body. They add every year a new ring to
their rattle-tails. These snakes have scales like
the fish; the scales are black, blue and green,
and look like mother-of-pearl. Snakes have
frequently crept into the houses and even into
the beds of people who live in the woods, so
that the people lay on them in the night till the
snakes grow restless beneath the weight, where-
upon they are driven out and killed.
One of the beauties of Pennsylvania are the
fire-flies that fly about so plentifully by night in
the summer time, that it seems as if it were
snowing fire. Some years ago a newly arrived
German man was badly scared by them ; for as
he was working in the field late one evening,
and some fire-flies, which were totally unknown
to him, were flying about him, our honest Hans
was so frightened that he dropped everything
and ran hastily home. As he came in fear and
trembling to his family, he said: "O God, shield
and
82 Description of tbc
and protect us! How many fiery spirits fly
about in this country! O God, would I were in
Germany again! "
The Blue Mountains He in Pennsylvania,
about thirty hours' journey from Philadelphia.
This mountain range begins at the Delaware
River, and passes to the left across the country,
and reaches as far as the ereat river Ohio. It
is very high, and it can therefore be seen
already in the Delaware Bay before we get to
Philadelphia. These Blue Mountains extend
over 40 hours' journey.
Of the savages, or Indians, who hold inter-
course with the English, there is a great multi-
tude; they live even beyond the Ohio, and the
Hudson River on which Albany lies ; therefore
on both sides to the right and left of Pennsyl-
vania. These two waters, which are very large,
are about 100 hours' journey from Philadel-
phia. These savages live in the bush in huts,
away from said waters, and so far inland that
no one is able to find the end of the habitations
of these savages. The farther we oret into the
country, the more savages we see. They sup-
port themselves in various ways; some shoot
game, others dig roots, some raise tobacco and
Indian corn or maize, which they eat raw or
boiled; besides, they deal also in all sorts of
hides, in beaver-skins and costly furs.
The
XanD ff»cnn6Blvanfa. 83
The savaofes that Hve on the borders of the
Europeans are frequently seen ; some of them
understand a little English. I myself have
several times seen whole families ; once I had
occasion, at the request of Captain Von Diemer,
to play the organ to a savage family, when they
became very gay and manifested their surprise
and joy by signs and genuflections. These
Indians, who walk about amid other people,
wear instead of clothes, blankets, such as are
usually used as covers for the horses; these
they have hanging uncut and unsewed about
their bare bodies. They wear no coverings on
their heads or on their feet. The form of
their bodies does not differ from ours, except
that they look dark yellow, which, however, is
not their natural color, for they besmear and
stain themselves thus; but at their birth they
are born as white as we are. Both men and
women have long, smooth hair on their heads;
the men do not tolerate beards; and when in
their youth, the hairs begin to grow, they pull
them out immediately; they have, therefore,
smooth faces like the women. On account of
the lacking beard and the sameness in dressing,
it is not easy to distinguish the men from the
women. When these savages wish to be good-
looking, they paint their cheeks and foreheads
red, hang their ears with strings of false beads
of
84 Description of tbe
of an ell's length. They wear neither shirts,
nor breeches, nor coats beneath their blankets.
In their wilderness where they live the young
and old go about naked in the summer
time. Every autumn they come in large
crowds to the city of Philadelphia, bringing
with them all sorts of little baskets which they
make quite neatly and beautifully, many skins
and costly furs. Besides these things they
trade off to the Governor, when they are as-
sembled, a tract of land of more than a thou-
sand acres, which is yet all forest. In the
name of the country and the city they are
annually presented with many things, such as
blankets, guns, rum or brandy and the like; on
which occasion they make merry with their
own strange Indian songs, especially when they
are drunk. No one understands their lan-
guage; some of them who come much in con-
tact with the English, can speak a little English.
There are very strong, tall and courageous
people among them. In their language they
tJioit and tJice everybody, even the Governor,
and they can run as fast as the deer. When
you speak to them of the true and everlasting
God, the Creator of heaven and earth, they do
not understand it, but answer simph': They be-
lieve that there are two men, a good one and a
bad one; that the good one had made every-
thino-
XanJ) ipcnnsslvania. 85
thing good, and the bad one had made every-
thing bad ; that it was not necessary, therefore,
to pray to the good one, as he was doing no
one any harm; but the bad one should be
prayed to that he might do no one any harm.
Of a resurrection of the dead, a salvation,
heaven or hell, they know and understand
nothing. They bury their dead where they
die. I have often been told by truthful
people that very old savages that can hardly
move any longer, or break down on the way,
are simply killed and buried. But if a savage
kills another, unless it be in war or on account
of old aee, whether the murdered was one of
our or one of their own people, the murderer
must surely die. They take him first to their
Indian King to be tried, and thence to die place
where the murder was committed, slay him
suddenly, bury him on the spot, and cover
his grave with much wood and stones. On the
other hand, they must likewise be given satis-
faction in similar cases, otherwise they would
treat an innocent person of our people in like
manner.
When the savages come to the city of Phila-
delphia and see the handsome and magnificent
buildings there, they wonder and laugh at the
Europeans for expending so much toil and cost
on houses. They say that it is quite unneces-
sary.
86 Description of tbc
sary, as one can live without such houses. Still
more they wonder at the garments of the Euro-
peans and their costly finery ; they will even
spit out when they see it.
When a savage couple are betrothed, the
man gives his affianced bride a piece of a deer's
leg into her hand, whereby he gives to under-
stand that he will nourish his future wife with
meat; his affianced, on the other hand, gives
him an ear of corn, in token that she will pro-
vide her future husband and children with
bread. Thus they care for each other, and re-
main together until death parts them.
Old savages have often been questioned
about their descent and origin, and they have
answered that all they knew or could say was
this; that their great-grandparents had lived in
these same wildernesses, and that it was not
right that the Europeans came and took their
lands away from them. For this reason they
must move farther and farther back in the wil-
derness to find game for their food.
The weapon with which these savages shoot
is a round bow, in the front centre of which they
place a sharp and pointed stone of a finger's
length; in the rear it is rather more than an
inch wide, and on both sides as sharp as a knife;
they aim accurately with it, and when they have
wounded a deer which will not fall they run
after
OLanO ipenns^lvanla. 87
after it till they get it, for they can run faster
than a horse. In witness of this I have brought
such a stone home with me wherewith the Indi-
ans, or savages, have shot game. This was
their only shooting weapon before they obtained
guns from the Europeans.
There is something remarkable that was dis-
covered by Rev. Mr. Schartel or Schartlin,
who was a minister in Zell and Altbach in the
Duchy of Wurtemberg, but who now serves as
a preacher in Pennsylvania, in the township of
Magunsche [Macungy] in the Blue Mountains.
Some 60 miles from Philadelphia, A. D. lysSr
when he had gone astray and was seeking the
right way, he chanced to find in the wilderness,
in a small wooded hill, a stone door frame which
stuck in the ground. At first he thought it was
a work of nature; but when he had rubbed off
the moss with which it was overgrown, and
when he regarded it attentively, he found in the
upper stone a legend chiseled out in Hebrew, in
the followinfj words: Thus far the God of
Joshua has helped us.
But although so many foundations for build-
ing houses have been laid here and there
throughout this new country, and although so
laree tracts of woods and fields have been
cleared far and wide, nowhere, except beside a
small creek near Philadelphia, have traces of
old
Description of tbe
old habitations been found, such as hewn stones
laid one upon the other, from which it could
have been surmised that some building must
have been standing on the spot before the time
of the savages.
In Pennsylvania everything is paid for with
stamped paper money, for which one can have
and buy whatever one wishes. Said paper
money is printed in the English language, and
with the Kind's coat-of-arms and the Gov-
ernor's name. The smallest piece makes 3
kr.,=== the 2d 4 kr., the 3d 6 kr., the 4th 9 kr.,
the 5th 15 kr., the 6th 20 kr., the 7th 30 kr.,
the 8th is half a crown which makes 42 kr., the
9th is a whole crown which makes as much
again, and the loth is a twenty-shilling bill
which is one pound, or 6 florins German money.
Such a piece of paper money is not larger than
a hand's breadth; on it stand in part 6, 12, 18
or 24 florins ; such paper money can be ex-
*The author has here taken a kreuzer for a pence
(penny).
Translator's Note. — The German annotator is wrong.
The author did not take a German kreuzer for an English
pefiTiy ; he simply reduced the English money to the value
of German money. The original reads : " Das kleinste
Stiick thut 3 kr.," i. e. does, or makes, or is eguivakfit to
3 kr. The author makes his meaning very clear in : " das
8te ist eine halbe Crone, welches thut 42 kr." ( — which
makes 42 kr.)
changed
XanJ) ipenns^jlvanla.
changed for silver and gold. If any one coun-
terfeits or prints such stamped paper money,
he is hanged without pardon. Beside the paper
money there is no other currency but gold,
French and Spanish dollars, the last named
having a large circulation.
N. B. If our countr}''men bring German coin
to that country, they will not get a kreuzer's
worth for such money ; that is, if it be small
coin.
When two persons have a quarrel or law-
suit in this country, and if they cannot settle it
themselves, they must first appear before a
Justice, who is as much as a judge. When
the plaintiff and his witnesses prefer a charge,
the Justice asks if they can swear to it. When
the question is answered in the affirmative, the
Justice takes the Bible into his hand and ad-
monishes the parties once more very sharply.
When this is done, one must take the Bible out
of the Justice's hand and kiss it three times.
The Justice says : Now it is done. He sits
down again and binds the defendant over for
the next court, and sends him immediately by
the constable, that is the court officer, to the
prison in Philadelphia, where he must stay till
the next court is held, which is sometimes
almost a quarter of a year. But if the defend-
ant will not go to prison, he must usually bind
himself
90 Description of tbc
himself in the sum of from loo to 600 florins to
appear and surrender himself at the next court
at Philadelphia. But if he cannot do that, he
must look about for some good friend to bind
himself for him. If he does not appear at the
appointed time, the deposited money, or prop-
erty to the same amount, is irredeemably for-
feited. When a case comes for the first time
before the court, it costs already 5 pounds, that
is 30 florins; if it is not disposed of, but post-
poned to the second court, it costs as much
again, and yet the case is not always disposed
of then; but the gentlemen of the court choose,
when it has been called up often enough, three
impartial men who are to dispose of it. This
is done in the following manner : When the
three selected men meet at the appointed time
with the plaintiff and the defendant, two of the
referees are told for which party each had been
chosen and sworn by the court ; but the third
man, being the arbitrator, must decide when
the two cannot aofree. But before the case it-
self is taken up, an English bill of complaint is
made out by the three men in the presence of
an English clerk, even if German people are
concerned in the case, for a German document
is of no validity before the authorities. Both
the plaintiff and the defendant must sign this
document and promise that both parties will
abide
XanO iPcnii0i2lvanla. 91
abide by that which the three men will do, con-
clude and decide in the matter. Then the case
is taken up to be adjudged in favor of the one
or the other party.
If any one contracts debts, and does not or
cannot pay them at the appointed time, the best
that he has is taken away from him ; but if he
has nothing, or not enough, he must go immedi-
ately to prison and remain there till some one
vouches for him, or till he is sold. This is done
whether he has children or not. But if he
wishes to be released and has children, such a
one is frequently compelled to sell a child. If
such a debtor owes only 5 pounds, or 30 florins,
he must serve for it a year or longer, and so in
proportion to his debt; but if a child of 8, 10 or
12 years of age is given for it, said child must
serve until he or she is 21 years old.
If a man in Pennsylvania is betrothed to a
woman, and does not care to be married by an
ordained preacher, he may be married by any
Justice, wherever he will, without having the
banns published, on payment of 6 florins. It is a
very common custom among the newly married,
when the priest has blessed them, to kiss each
other in presence of the whole church assem-
blage, or wherever the marriage ceremony
takes place. Again, when a couple have been
published from the pulpit, even if this has been
done
92 Description ot tbe
done for the second or third time, they are still
at liberty to grive each other up without the
least cost. Even when such a couple have
come to the church with their wedding guests,
nay, when they already stand before the altar,
and one party repents the engagement, he or
she may yet walk away. This has frequendy
been done; but it occurs oftener that a bride
leaves her bridegroom together with the wed-
dine euests in the church, which causes a cruel
laughter among said wedding guests ; these
may then freely partake of the meal that has
been prepared.
If a couple in this province want to marry
each other, and the parents and relatives on
one or both sides will not permit it, especially
when a woman will not renounce her lover,
they ride off and away together on one horse.
And because women have greater privileges
than men, the man must sit on the horse be-
hind his beloved. In this position they ride to
a Justice, and say they had stolen each other,
and request him to marry them for their money.
When this is done, no one, neither parents nor
friends, can afterward separate them.
If any one has lost a wife or husband in
Germany, and if such loss was not caused by
the death of either of them, he or she can find
such lost treasure, if the same be still alive, in
America,
XanD ipcnns^lvanla. 9S
America, for Pennsylvania is the gathering
place of all runaways and good-for-nothings.
Many women and men are there who have
deserted their spouses and their children,
and have married again, but in doing so
have generally made a w^orse bargain than
before.
If a man gets a woman with child, and he
marries her, either before or after her confine-
ment, he has expiated his guilt and is not pun-
ished by the authorities. But if he will not
marry the woman whom he got with child, and
she sues him, he must either marry her, or give
her a sum of money. But there is no penalty
on fornication.
A few years ago the following incident truly
happened not far from the Blue Mountains. A
man's wife, who was well advanced in years, fell
sick and grew worse from day to day. When
the woman had given up all hope of recovery,
she commended herself to God and begged her
husband not to refuse her last request, which
would be for his own and her children's benefit.
Her husband declared his readiness to comply
with her wish so far as he would be able to do
so, gave her his hand, and asked her to name
her request. She said : Alas, my dear husband,
I am much concerned about my children, who
are young and not grown up yet ; and I fear
that
94 Descrlptfon of tbc
that when I die they may get a bad step-
mother ; I pray you earnestly, therefore, to
marry no other than our Rosina, who has all
this time been a faithful and industrious servant
in our house. But her husband comforted her,
saying that she should set her mind at rest, that
he hoped she would recover from her illness.
This she would not believe, and she persisted
in urging her husband that he would marry no
other than Rosina, so that she might know and
see before her end what sort of a mother her
children would have. Her husband had, there-
fore, to promise the suggested marriage with
mouth and hand. But this did not yet satisfy
her ; she also sent for Rosina to come to her
bedside, and commended her household, to-
gether with her husband and children, to her
care. The servant maid did not say nay, but
submitted everything to her master's will. When
the anxious woman had received the promise of
both, her husband and the servant had to join
hands before her eyes, vowing that they would
keep each other. The sick w^oman then laid her
hands upon theirs and blessed this new couple
herself, and was very glad of it. But after this
the sick woman grew better from day to day,
and at last perfectly well. The husband then
said to his old wife : You have yourself given
me this young woman for a wife; now I will
keep
XanO ipenns^lvanfa. 95
keep her as such. Whereupon his old wife said:
Yes, I will have it so, in order that I may die in
peace whenever my time comes. The young
wife gave birth to children during the lifetime
of the old one, and the old one tended and
nursed the young one always well and faithfully
during her confinements; so that these two
wives and their husband were very well pleased
with each other. And no one interfered, be-
cause they were separatists and not church-
people. Whenever any one came, wishing to
speak to the mistress of the house, the husband
or one of his wives would always ask which one
was meant, the old one or the young one ? And
they admitted it themselves that they were both
his wives.
In order to impugn the credibility of this story
-some may remind me of the severity of the
Eno-lish law which unmercifully dooms to death
him who has two wives, or her who has two
husbands. But the judge does not pronounce
this doom if the other party does not bring suit.
These two wives were satisfied, and there
was in this case the special circumstance that
severe as the laws are, they cannot be executed
so strictly in Pennsylvania, because the people
in the rural parts live too widely separated from
€ach other. If it should really happen that a
man had two wives, and the case should be
broucrht
96 Description ot tbe
brought to the notice of the courts, he would
not rest till he had married a third wife. Then
he would be free, and would not have sinned
against the law which merely prohibits the
marrying of two wives, but does not expressly
prohibit the marrying of three wives.
On the whole, crimes are punished severely,
especially larceny. If any one steals only a
handkerchief, a pair of stockings or shoes, or a
shirt, or the like things of little value, and suit
is brought against him, he is tied to a post in
the public market, stripped to the waist, and so
terribly lashed with a switch, or a horse- or dog-
whip, to which knots are sometimes attached,
that patches of skin and flesh hang down from
his body. But if such a culprit should subse-
quently steal again, and were it only an object
worth 20 florins, or a horse, short work is made
with him. They place him in a cart, drive him
beneath the gallows, throw a rope round his
neck, hang him up, drive the cart away beneath
him, and let him dangle; sometimes the culprit
suffers long and dies miserably. For in this
country it does not matter who plays the hang-
man; for 5 pounds or 30 florins any one will do
it. During the time while I was there such an
execution took place, when an unskilled hang-
man had to hanor a thief, which took him
so long that some distinguished gentlemen,
who
XanO ipcnne^lvanfa. 97
■who were present, grew impatient and called
out to him to know why he was fooling around
so long with him. But the hangman was quick-
witted and answered boldly: If you, gentlemen,
can hang a man better than I can, just come on.
The consequence was that the gentlemen were
laughed at by the people.
Every one here is at liberty to take his fallen
horse, cow, or other animal out wherever he
chooses, dispensing with the services of a flayer,
to take the skin off the dead animal, and to
do with it as he pleases. No obstacle is placed
in his way herein, and it may be practised by
any one, whatever his business or profession
may be, without encountering any remon-
strance.
In Pennsylvania one might travel about a
whole year without spending a penny; for it is
customary in this country that, when one comes
with his horse to a house, the traveler is asked
if he wishes to have something to eat, where-
upon the stranger is served with a piece of cold
meat which has been left over from dinner ; in
addition to this he is provided with fine bread,
butter and cheese, also with plenty to drink.
If one wishes to stay over night, he and his horse
are harbored free of charge. If any one comes
to a house at meal-time, he is asked to take his
seat at the table and to take pot-luck. But
there
98 2)e0criptton ot tbc
there are also taverns where everything- may be
had.
Enghsh women in Pennsylvania and in all the
English colonies have all the qualities and privi-
leges of women in old England. They are ex-
ceedingly handsome and well formed, generally
gay, friendly, very free, plucky, smart and clever,
but also very haughty, they are fond of dress
and demand great attention from the men. The
English men make much of them and show
them great respect. A man must not think of
marrying a woman unless he is able to support
her without expecting work of her ; otherwise
she would make him unhappy, or even desert
him ; for they must not be asked to do any
household work except such as they will do of
their own free choice. They are fond of receiv-
ing visits and attending parties ; whether the
husband likes it or not, he must not even show
a dissatisfied mien. I would rather beat three
men in England than box a woman's ear but
slighdy ; and if such a thing is done by her own
husband and she complains to her neighbors,
his life is not safe. But if such a thing happens
repeatedly^ he had better put a safe distance
between himself and her, as she can send him
to prison, if not to a galley, for a long time.
No one can compel her to receive her husband
again. That English women are generally very
handsome
Xand IPcnns^lvania. 99
handsome is not surprising, for they are tenderly
nurtured from their childhood; they eat and
drink no coarse food and beverages : they need
not work and are not much exposed to the
sun. In court the evidence of one woman is
worth as much as that of three male witnesses.
It is said they received this great privilege
from Queen Elizabeth.
Respecting the extent of America, they say
in Pennsylvania that that continent is much
larger than Europe, but that it is impossible
to explore it on account of its immeasurable
pathless forests and its great and small rivers.
Nor is Pennsylvania an island, as some simple-
tons in Germany believe it to be. I have had
occasion to speak of the extent of this continent
with an English traveler who had been far in
the interior of the country among the savages.
He told me that he had been more than 700
English miles, which is 233 Swabian hours' jour-
ney from Philadelphia, purchasing skins and all
sorts of furs from the savages. He had spoken
on that very same topic with an Indian, a very
old fellow, who had given him to understand in
English that he and his brothers had one time
journeyed from the place, where the meeting
with said English traveler had occurred, straight
through the land and through the bush toward
the setting sun, and that according to their
estimate
100 Description of tbc
estimate they had gone 1600 EngHsh miles.
But seeing that there was no hope of finding
the end of this country they had returned. On
this journey they had met an indescribable mul-
titude of Indians of their race, also all sorts of
animals, as, white and black bears, stags that
are not so large as ours, wald oxen [buffaloes],
panthers that are strong enough to kill cattle or
men, wild hogs that are very large, wolves,
monkeys, foxes and the like. Besides feathered
<:reatures of many kinds, as, golden eagles,
torckis [turkeys], i. e. a kind of fowl that are
larger than roosters ; swans, wild ducks, not to
mention the many strange kinds of birds that
they, the savages, had not known before, and
many animals covered with very fine and costly
fur. They had also met an animal which had
a smooth and pointed horn an ell and a half
long on its head; said horn pointed straight
ahead. This animal was as large as a
middle-sized horse, but swifter than a stag in
running. The Europeans of Philadelphia had
taken this animal for the unicorn.* The old
savage also said they had met on this journey
many great waters, besides smaller rivers, all of
which they had crossed by swimming.
In the Blue Mountains various rich ores have
been found which are kept concealed as yet as
* Perhaps it is the Elk.
much
XanD Pennsylvania, 101
much as possible ; this ore consists for the most
part in copper, sulphur and iron, and promises
a rich yield.
Iron-works and foundries and glass-works
have already been established. Much cast-iron
and glass are exported from this province in
ships sailing to Ireland, England, Holland, and
to the other colonies; many a ship leaves , the
port of Philadelphia, freighted exclusively with
iron bars.
A place has also been found in Pennsylvania,
which is very well known to me, where the
most beautiful blue, white and red marble may
be had of which the English build very fine
altars, halls and columns. These stones are as
large as one would have them ; there are also
plenty of other fipe stones for building pur-
poses. Freestone and unhewn blocks are,
therefore, almost exclusively used for building
in this country.
In Pennsylvania there are already four print-
ing offices, two of which are in Philadelphia,
one in the English and the other in the German
language; the third is in Germantown and the
fourth in Lancaster.
There are also various flour-mills, saw-mills,
oil-presses, fulling-mills, powder-mills and paper-
mills, lime and brick-kilns, and not a few tan-
neries and potteries. In Philadelphia there are
also
102 2)escriptfon of tbe
also German and English apothecaries, and I
know of no art or trade that is not to be found
in that city and in that new land. Even glaziers
and scissors-grinders are already going around,
which appears very strange and ridiculous to
the English people.
Nothing is lacking in this country except, as I
have stated before, the cultivation of the vine, but
I have no doubt that this, too, will come in time.
It is no wonder, therefore, that this beautiful
country, which is already extensively settled and
inhabited by rich people, has excited the covet-
ousness of France. And actually, while I write
this, it is rumored that the French had made a
raid into Pennsylvania in November, 1755, and
had taken Lancaster, a surprise rendered easy
by the dissensions between the Governor, Mr.
Morris, and the Assembly, which latter had re-
fused to vote money for the defense of the
country. But according to my humble opinion,
Pennsylvania cannot stand a long war ; there is
nothing for which it is less prepared than a war,
especially because so many Quakers are there
who will not quarrel or fight with anybody. For
this reason no magazines or stores have ever
been established and filled with grain and pro-
visions. Hitherto every one has sent his annual
surplus products to Philadelphia to be sold there,
and from there they are shipped by sea to other
provinces;
XanD pennsBlvanfa, 103
provinces ; I believe, therefore, that for want of
provisions in this war time there must soon
arise an indescribable dearth.
Compared to Europe, Pennsylvania has a
very changeable climate ; in summer it is often
so hot and almost without a breeze that one is
near suffocating; and in winter intensely cold
spells are quite frequent and come so suddenly
that men and beasts, and even the birds in the
air are in danger of freezing to death. Fortu-
nately these cold spells are of short duration and
are interrupted by a sudden change. There are
often in one day three or four kinds of weather:
warm, cold, storm and wind, rain or snow, and
then fine weather again. Sometimes cyclonic
winds and cloudbursts come so suddenly and
unexpectedly that it seems as if everything was
doomed to destruction. Large fruit and cedar
trees are occasionally torn out of the ground
together with their roots ; now and then even
whole tracts of forests are blown down. There
are constantly many violent winds in this coun-
try, because it is so near the open sea.
In spring the warm weather comes so sud-
denly that everything grows very fast, and in the
beginning of June harvesting has fully begun.
In summer time, no matter how hot it may
have been during the day, no one must remain
lightly clad in the evening after sunset, on ac-
count
104 Dcficrlptton of tbe
count of the sharp and heavy dew ; those who
neglect this precaution are sure to have a
catarrh or a fever.
It is surprising to hear old Indians or savages
complain and say that, since the Europeans
came into their country, they were so frequently
visited by heavy snow-falls, severe frosts, and
torrents of rain, of which they had known
nothing before the coming of the Europeans.
Whether this is true or not, even the Pennsyl-
vanians ascribe the facts to the Europeans, be-
cause these, and especially the Germans, are
mostly such fearful swearers.
For this reason a penalty of 5 pounds or 30
florins has recently been fixed throughout Penn-
sylvania upon ever)' oath uttered in public, in
order to check this shocking habit of swearing,
both among the English and the Germans. If
any one hears another swear, and informs
against him, such informer is to have one-half of
the imposed fine, or 15 florins; the consequence
being that many a one is trying hard to guard
against being caught in the act of swearing.
On the other hand, many a one has been in-
duced by this law to turn informer for the pur-
pose of earning money. During my sojourn in
the country one of these greedy informers got
something which he had not barcjained for.
Having from interested motives informed
afjainst
XanD Pennsylvania. 105
against a very poor man for swearing, the
Justice asked above all things whether this
swearer was a rich or a poor man, and whether
he had children. Being told that nothing was
to be got out of him, he ordered that, instead
of being fined 5 pounds or 30 florins, he should
receive 50 lashes upon his posterior. But as
the informer was entitled to one-half of the fine,
the Justice asked him if he was willing to forego
his half of the poor man's penalty. He an-
swered in the negative, when the Justice bid him
have patience, assuring him that he would duly
receive his half He then ordered that 25 good
lashes should be administered to the defendant
for his profanity. This being done, 25 lashes,
well laid on, were administered to the greedy
informer, who was not a litde surprised at this
turn of things. This malignant man vowed,
however, that he would never in his life inform
again against any one.
In the province of Pennsylvania, and especi-
ally in the city of Philadelphia, the Sabbath-
breakers who buy and sell on Sunday, when
there is no necessity for doing so, are fined 5
pounds or 30 florins for each oflence; even
a baker who bakes bread and sells it on Sun-
days or holidays is fined 30 florins. A shop-
keeper selling goods on Sunday has still less
claim to indulgence. Grinding flour is prohib-
ited
106 Description ot tbe
ited under the same penalty. A waggoner or
teamster, who drives without necessity into the
field or country, has to pay the same fine, be-
cause this is considered as his every-day occu-
pation, like that of any other profession.
Nevertheless, there is a great confusion on
account of the many religious denominations
and sects; for especially in the rural districts it
is very ill kept. The holidays and apostle-days
are not observed at all. As the inhabitants live
scattered and often very far from their churches,
it happens that many a man keeps divine
service with his family in his own house, while
many others plough, reap, thresh, hew or split
wood and the like, and thus Sunday is dis-
regarded by many. For want of an annual
almanac many do not even know when it is
Sunday, and thus the young grow up without
the necessary divine knowledge, like the abori-
gines or savages.
In Pennsylvania and the other English colo-
nies there are innumerable negroes, or blacks,
who have to serve all their lives as slaves.
From 200 to 350 florins are paid for a strong
and industrious half-grown negro. Many are
given in marriage by their masters in order to
raise young blackamoors by them, who are sold
in their turn. These blacks are likewise
married in the English fashion.
According
XanD Pennsylvania. 107
According to their color the inhabitants of
Pennsylvania may be divided into 4 classes.
There are, i. Whites, i. e. Europeans who
have immigrated, and natives begotten by Euro-
pean fathers and mothers; 2. Negroes, i. e.
blacks brought over as slaves from Africa; 3.
MuLATERS or Malaters [mulattoes], i. e. such
as are begotten by a white father and a black
mother, or by a black father and a white
mother; these are neither white nor black, but
yellowish; 4. Dark-brown, these are the sav-
ages or Indians, the old inhabitants of the
country.
As to the number of people in Pennsylvania,
it must be confessed that the female sex in this
new country is very fruitful; for people marry
young in this land, and many immigrants arrive
every year. In Philadelphia or in the country;
when one comes into a house, one finds it
usually full of children, and the city of Philadel-
phia is fairly swarming with them. And if one
meets a woman, she is either with child, or she
carries a child in her arms, or leads one by the
hand. Many children are born every year.*
Those that are born and brought up in this
country grow very fast; they are full-grown at
the age of 15, rarely later than 17 or 18 years
♦Pennsylvania is said to have 200,000 inhabitants.
but
108 2)e0crlption of tbc
but they seldom grow old. They resemble
herein the trees of their forests. Europeans
who emigrate to the country grow much older
than those that are born in it. I, at least, have
seen few of the latter that were 60 or 'jo years
old; on the other hand I met people who came
to the country as children 75 years ago, with
the first immigrants. These told me how it
looked in the country at that time, and how
much misery they had sometimes to endure.
That these beginners in a new and wild country
fared very hard, may be readily believed; for
this small flock was constantly in great fear on
account of the many Indians or savages who
swarmed around them at that time ; they lacked
all sorts of tools, and were compelled to hoe
the seed into the soil because they had neither
horses nor cattle ; besides they were at that
time and long afterward without flour-mills,
and had to crush the grain between flat
stones, so that it was a very difficult task to
bake bread. And more than all this, no salt
was to be had for a long time. They had wood,
and did not lack meat because they shot all
sorts of game, though they were often in great
want of gun-powder. For a long time several
persons had to keep one horse in common until
more horses and cattle were brought from other
countries. Not to mention the multitude of
laro^e
XanJ) Ipcnnsi2lvania. io»
large and small wild beasts, snakes and vermin
of every kind, so that they constandy lived in
great fear and anxiety ; therefore they were
obliged to keep large fires burning around their
huts^by day and by night, to keep the bears,
panthers and wolves away. But now bears-
and panthers are rarely seen in Pennsylvania.
A few years ago a large bear came by night
into Captain Von Diemer's orchard, and climbed
upon the fruit-trees, shaking down apples, just
as if a man had been on the trees, so that the
does beean to bark. But the bear did not
mind that, and continued shaking. At length
the servants notified the master of the house,
who went out immediately with two rifles,
his servants and dogs, and when he had ap-
proached the apple-shaker near enough in the
moonlight, he saluted him with a bullet ; where-
upon the wounded bear growled terribly and
tumbled down from the tree topsy-turvy. But
as he was about to run away he received a
second bullet, and after he had made a somer-
sault and received a third shot, he remained
lying on the ground, when the large dogs fell
upon him and killed him. This incident filled
many neighbors with great joy.
Old people of eighty years and more told me
much of their former sad condition ; that for a
long time there had been a great lack of God-
fearing"
110 Description ot tbe
fearing preachers, and the sacraments, baptism
and holy communion ; and when a preacher
occasionally came to a place, many a one was
obliged to make a journey of lo, 20, and
even 30 hours to hear him ; while now most
people would not make an hour's trip to hear
him, but would even despise him. The many
sects lead people astray, and make them heter-
odox, especially many of our young German
folks who are easy to seduce, because they
have often many years to serve with them, so
that they even forget their mother-tongue.
Even many adults and old people have changed
their faith, merely for the sake of their suste-
nance. 1 could quote many instances, but as
this would lead me too far, I shall content my-
self with relating a single case. I was well
acquainted with an old German neighbor, who
had been a Lutheran, but had re-baptized him-
self in a running water; some time afterwards
he circumcised himself and believed only in the
Old Testament ; finally, however, shordy be-
fore his death, he baptized himself again by
sprinkling water upon his head.
I cannot pass over another example of the
godless life of some people in this free country.
Two very rich planters living in Oley township,
who were very well known to me, one by the
name of Arnold Hufnagel, the other named
Conrad
XanD lPcnnsi2lvania. ill
Conrad Reif, both arch-enemies and scoffers of
the preachers and the divine word, often met to
ridicule and scoff at the ministers and all the
church people, and to deny heaven and future
salvation, as well as eternal damnation in hell.
In 1753 these two scoffers met again one day,
according to their evil custom, and began to
speak of heaven and hell, said Arnold Huf-
nagel to Conrad Keif: "How much will you
give me for my place in heaven, brother?"
Said the other: "I will give you just as much as
you will give me for my place in hell." Said
Hufnagel again: "If you will give me so and so
many sheep for my place in heaven, you shall
have it." Replied Reif: "I will give them to
you if you will give me so and so many sheep
for my place in hell." Thus the two scoffers
agreed on their bargain, joking blasphemously
about heaven and hell. On the following day
as Hufnagel, who had been ready to part with
his place in heaven on such cheap terms, was
about to descend to his cellar, which had always
been his heaven, he suddenly dropped down
dead; while Reif was attacked in his field by a
flight of so-called golden eagles, which would
surely have killed him if he had not cried
piteously for help, when some neighbors came
to his assistance. From that day he would not
trust himself out of his house; he was taken
with
112 Description of tbe
with a wasting disease and died in his sins, un-
repentant and unshriven. These two examples
had the visible effect of arousing the conscious-
ness of other scoffers. For God will not permit
Himself to be scoffed.
On the first and second days of the month
of May there is general merry-making in Penn-
sylvania, in which the unmarried persons of both
sexes chiefly take part. All amuse themselves
with playing, dancing, shooting, hunting, and the
like. Such unmarried persons as are born in
the country adorn their heads with a piece
of the fur of some wild animal, together with any
painted animal they may choose. With these
the young men walk about the city, crying,
"Hurrah! Hurrah!" But no one may put such
a token in his hat except those born in the
country, and these are called Indians.
In Pennsylvania the following custom pre-
vails among all people, high and low, in the city
and in the country. When any one enters a
house, or meets another, he first presses the
hand of the father and mother of the family;
then he salutes in the same manner with his
hand all other persons, as many as there may
be, and it happens sometimes that he will find
a whole room full. Such salutation and hand-
shaking is customary with strangers as well
as among the most intimate friends, and the
mode
5LanD pcnns^lvanta. 113
mode of addressino- each other is among- the
English as well as the Germans: "How are you,
^ood friend?" And the answer is: "So mid-
dling." This pleasant custom springs in part
from the many English Quakers in Philadelphia,
and in part from the Indians themselves, who
were the first among whom this custom pre-
vailed. To speak the truth, one seldom hears
or sees a quarrel among them. Even strangers
trust each other more than acquaintances in
Europe. People are far more sincere and gen-
erous than in Germany; therefore our Amer-
icans live more quietly and peacefully together
than the Europeans; and all this is the result of
the liberty which they enjoy and which makes
them all equal.
There are in this country a great many very
beautiful pearl-colored squirrels which are as
large again as ours. They are shot daily for
food, because their flesh is very delicious ; they
are almost as long as a half-grown hare, but
not so thick. Hares, snipe, pheasants, wild
ducks, wild pigeons, wild turkeys can be shot
in great numbers every day; fish and fowl,
too, are everywhere to be had in plenty. And
here I remember another kind of squirrel,
viz., the flying squirrel,* which is exceedingly
* For a description of this flying squirrel see the German
translation of M. De Diereville's Journey to Acadia, p. 239.
pretty ;
114 Description of tbe
pretty ; but this species is very small, about the
size of a rat, though not so thick ; you can
cover it up with your hand. It can fly the dis-
tance of a rifle-shot ; its fur is like fine velvet,
its color like that of the large squirrel ; a good
price is paid for its skin. I took such a flying
squirrel with me to exhibit in Germany as a
rare and marvelous little animal ; but in the
sixth week at sea it was quite unexpectedly
bitten to death by a very large parrot. This
parrot had a bright yellow belly and sky-blue
wings ; it was larger than an ordinary rooster,
and could speak much English. There were
two other species on board the ship; one was
of the size of a pigeon, grass-green and could
speak Spanish; the third species was a pair,
a he and a she, not much larger than quail,
grass-green, with red heads, and they could
talk much English. There are many kinds
of these strange and beautiful birds in Pennsyl-
vania.
The cultivation of music is rather rare as yet.
In the capital city, Philadelphia, no music is
made either in the English or in the German
churches. Some EnMishmen o-ive occasional
concerts in private houses with a spinet or
harpsichord. I came to the country with the
first organ, which now stands in a High Ger-
man Lutheran church in the city of Philadelphia,
and
lanD penns^lvanfa. 115
and which was built in Heilbronn. After this
work had been set up and tuned it was conse-
crated with great rejoicing, and deHvered to the
Christian St. Michael's Church for the praise
and service of God. At this great and joyous
festival there appeared 15 Lutheran ministers
with the entire vestries of all the Evangelical
churches. The crowd of hearers was inde-
scribably large; many people came from a
great distance, 10, 20, 30, 40, and even 50
hours' journey, to see and hear this organ. The
number of hearers, who stood inside and out-
side the church, both German and English,
were estimated at several thousands. On the
2nd day of this solemn festival of rejoicing a
conference was held by all the assembled Luth-
eran ministers and vestries, and on that occasion
I was appointed school-master and organist.
As I became more and more known in Penn-
sylvania, and the people learned that I had
brought fine and good instruments with me,
many English and German families came 10,
20 and 30 hours' journey to hear them and to
see the organ, and they were greatly surprised,
because they had never in all their lives seen or
heard an organ or any of these instruments.
At the present time there are 6 organs in
Pennsylvania — the ist is in Philadelphia, the 2nd
in Germantown, the 3rd in Providence, the 4th
in
116 Description of tbe
in Ne\y Hanover, the 5th in Dulpenhacken
(Tulpehocken), and the 6th in Lancaster, all of
which came to the country during the 4 years
of my sojourn there.
Throughout Pennsylvania men and women
dress according to the English fashion. Women
wear no hoops, but all that they wear is very
fine, neat and cosdy. The jackets and skirts
are cut and sewed in one piece; in front they
can be parted. Beneath these they wear hand-
somely sewed petticoats trimmed with ribbon,
but the outer skirts must reach down to the
shoes, and are made of cotton, chintz, or other
rich and handsome stuffs. All wear daily fine
white aprons, on their shoes usually large silver
buckles, round their throats fine strings of beads,
in their ears costly drops with fine stones, and
on their heads fine white hoods embroidered
with flowers and trimmed with lace and stream-
ers. Their gloves are made of velvet, silk
and the like, usually trimmed with silver or
gold lace and beautifully embroidered. Their
neckerchiefs are either of velvet or of pure
silk, and likewise tastefully embroidered. When
they walk or ride they wear blue or scarlet
cloaks which only reach down to the waist. On
their heads they wear black or beautifully-
colored bannerts (bonnets) of taffeta instead of
straw hats. These bannerts are of a peculiar
structure
XanD ipennsslvanta. 117
structure and serve instead of parasols, but are
much prettier. If our women could see such
bannerts, they would surely wish to have them
likewise.
When they ride on horseback they have costly
whips which are elegantly made of fine wire,
whalebone and the like. The handles are usu-
ally made of red velvet, plush, or tortoise-shell,
mother-of-pearl, ivory, some even of solid silver,
according to the price that the wearer is willing
to pay. Such whips the women take with them
when they ride into the country, to the city, or
to church; they keep them in their hands even
in church. Many a woman is a match in riding
for the best horseman. An English servant-
woman, especially in Philadelphia, is as elegantly
dressed as an aristocratic lady in Germany.
All English ladies are very beautiful; they
wear their\air usually cut short or frizzed.
The apparel of the men, especially English-
men, is very costly, among the farmers as well
as among persons of rank; they all wear gar-
ments of fine English cloth or other materials,
also fine shirts. Every one wears a wig, the
peasant as well as the gentleman. In Phila-
delphia they wear very large and very fine
beaver hats, which is no wonder, seeing that
this is the home of the beaver. But in summer,
on account of the great heat, every one, espec
ially
118 Description of tbe
ially in the country, wears the rim of the hat
turned down.
For the same reason thin, light coats or
jackets are worn which are neatly made of fine
linen or dimity. Every one wears long trousers
reaching down to the shoes; these trousers are
very wide and made of stiff linen or buckram.
All men have their hair cut short in summer
time, and they wear only a cap of fine white
linen, and over it a hat with the rim not turned
up. On entering a house they only doff the
hat, but not the cap; and if any one travels
only an hour's journey into the country, he wears
his long coat, and a pair of boots that are half
turned down and reach only to the middle of
the calves. This costume is necessary in this
country on account of the sudden changes of
temperature.
The price of farms in Pennsylvania, especially
round Philadelphia, is already quite high ; from
30 to 50 florins are paid for an acre, only a
day's journey from the city, although the ground
is still uncleared forest land. If a place is de-
sired for a homestead, which is already in a
habitable and cultivated condition, containing a
dwelling-house, barns and good stables, together
with meadows, orchards, tilled fields and suffi-
cient woodland, twice as much is asked for it as
for uncultivated land, the price being about one
hundred
XanO ipcnns^lvanla. ny
hundred florins per acre. Rich Englishmen
have already bought up from the Indians all the
remote land far and near, where all is as yet wild
and wooded, in order to sell it again to the
Europeans who are coming to the country.
Our German people who emigrate there do not
o-et land enough for nothing upon which to build
a cottage. The price of land is increasing from
year to year, especially because the English see
that so many people, anxious to own farms or
plantations, are coming to the country every
year.
In South Carolina, which is 200-250 hours
distant from Pennsylvania, an acre of land,
which is, however, all forest, may be had for 1 8
or 20 kreuzers. There one has to go i, 2, 3
and more hours to reach his nearest neighbor,
and to travel 2, 3, 4, and even 8 days to reach a
town or a church. Carolina is much warmer
than Pennsylvania, for it produces rice in abund-
ance, much cotton and olive oil. On the trees
grow nuts as thick as a fist, and when they fall
in autumn and are opened they contain a firm
ball, which must be forcibly drawn asunder and
combed; afterward the wool is washed and
bleached till it is as white as snow. Every one
there wears cotton garments.
In Pennsylvania all houses are built solidly of
free-stone; and when they stand alone, they are
generally
120 H)C0cript{on of tbe
generally provided on every side with large
English plate-glass windows. Stoves are rarely
seen in the rooms; in their stead all houses
have French chimneys; the people sit in front
of them, drink their good English beer, or
smoke a pipe of tobacco. When thess chim-
neys are well built, no smoke escapes into the
rooms.
All houses have on both sides two benches,
set up about four feet straight out and in front
of the house-doors, and roofed like a garden
pavilion^ the roof resting on two columns.
Such outside benches are found in front of all
houses, not only in the country, but in the
whole city of Philadelphia. Everybody is sitting
on them or promenading in front of them in the
evening, when the weather is fine. The streets
and houses of this city being so straight, one
can look half an hour's journey straight ahead.
As has been mentioned in the beginning, there
are seven main churches in the city, but only
one has a steeple attached to it ; this, however,
is very high and fine. In this whole city there
are no more than two small bells, and when
they are rung together, divine service begins in
all churches. During the last year of my
sojourn there the city councils and the church
vestries made arrangements to have three bells
of various sizes brought over from London in
Old
Xan& ipennsTSlvanfa. 121
Old England. No church In the country has a
steeple, or is provided with a bell or clock;
and the people hear all the year round no ring-
ino- or striking the hours, which seems very
dull to the newcomers, especially in the night-
time, until they are used to it. But almost every
one, farmers as well as private persons, makes
use of silver watches ; they are very generally
w^orn by the English ladies.
In 1754 some French deserters, according to
their statements, met with a strange fatality.
Two of them came to Philadelphia where they
related the following adventure : Seven of their
number had deserted from their regiment which
had stood at that time beyond the great river
Ohio, intending to escape to Carolina. In the
wilderness they had gone astray, had wan-
dered over hill and dale, without meeting with
any one except occasionally with some sav-
ages ; thus they had strayed about for 4 weeks.
After they had lost said savages out of sight,
and after they had eaten up their provisions,
they had subsisted for some time on venison,
as long as their powder held out ; after that
was gone, they came across some large rattle-
snakes from which they ran away at first in
horror; but being pressed hard by hunger,
they remembered that the savages were in the
habit of eating these repdles; so they killed
some
122 Descnptton of tbe
some of them and ate their flesh, which was by
no means hurtful and poisonous, after they had
roasted it on the fire. At length, when they
had eaten up this loathsome food, and not
knowing whither to turn, after they had
marched long by day and by night through
forests and swamps, and crossed large and
small rivers, they became so weak and feeble
that they were unable to continue their wander-
ing, and made up their minds that they were
doomed to perish by hunger; when the idea
struck them to cast lots which of them was to
die first; him they would kill and consume his
flesh. Their corporal had given this advice,
to which they had all assented. The first
lot fell upon the corporal himself, who was
gready starded, but said: I would starve to
death anyhow, and all of you will not fare bet-
ter. They bound him immediately, killed and
roasted him, and began to eat his flesh, which
lasted them a while. In the meantime they
continued their march. But soon they were
again pressed hard by hunger, and again they
cast lots; and thus they went on until two
only of the seven were left alive when they met
with people; and at length they reached Phila-
delphia. This long and fatal journey lasted
from the beginning of May to the end of June.
There is a current saying to the effect that
Pennsylvania
XanO ipennsslvanla. 123
Pennsylvania Is the paradise of women, the
purgatory of men, and the hell of horses.
A. D. 1753, Sept. 2ist, the new calendar was
introduced in Pennsylvania and in all English
colonies of America. Accordingly a jump was
made from the 1 1 th to the 2 1 st of Septem-
ber. This change met with much opposition
from the people as well as the High Church of
Enorland and the sects. To some it has been a
great grievance that a Sunday was thus left out
and lost with its gospel.*
Regarding the climate of Pennsylvania, it
must be observed that the summer and winter
seasons, as to night and day, differ about 3
hours from those of Europe, the days and
nio-hts beinof shorter or lono-er than with us. In
summer, when the days are longest, about St.
John's day, the day does not begin until 4:30
a. m., while at 8 p. m. it is entirely night; again,
in winter, when the days are shortest, they are
longer here and the nights shorter than in
Europe, for at 5:30 a. m. it is fully daylight,
while night does not set in until 6 p. m. It is
also noteworthy that when the sun has set in
America, it is completely dark in one-half of a
quarter of an hour, while with us daylight lin-
* A strange grievance which would be felt in most years,
as the gospels of the 25th, 26th and 27th Sundays after
Trinity are often lost in this way.
gers
124 Description ot tbe
gers more than half an hour. Observe also this
difference, that when the sun has risen in
Europe, night still continues for three hours in
these American lands; on the other hand, when
the sun has set in Europe, it continues to shine
for three hours in America. Pennsylvania must,
therefore, be very remote from us, I often
heard from captains and seamen that according
to their calculation the distance across the open
sea alone, from land to land, is 3,600 English
miles, or 1,200 German hours. As to the depth
of the ocean they told me that, at a distance of
about 100 miles from the land, the bottom of the
sea could no longer be fathomed, though they
sunk the sounding-lead with a rope of 50,000
fathoms' length into the sea ; which had often
been done.
Three ereat roads have been laid out in the
province of Pennsylvania, all of which lead from
Philadelphia into the interior of the country as
far as it is inhabited. The first road runs from
Philadelphia to the right hand by the Delaware to
New Frankfurt [Frankford] ; the second or mid-
dle road runs through Germantown, Rittingston
(Reading) and Dulppenhacken (Tulpehocken),
extending across the Blue Mountains; the third
road runs to the left hand toward Lancaster
and Bethlehem, where there is a monastery
and nunnery of Bunkers, inhabited by breth-
ren
XanO Pennsylvania. 125
ren and sisters. The men do not shave their
beards; many a one among them has a beard
half an ell long. They wear cowls like the
Capuchin monks, in winter of the same cloth and
color, but in summer of fine white linen. The
sisters dress in the same manner. These
people are not baptized, which is done by im-
mersion in deep water, until they are full-
grown and can give an account of their faith.
Instead of Sunday they keep the preceding
Saturday. Their convent-sisters aforesaid fre-
quently bring forth living fruits in patience.
In conclusion I will relate how, on my way
home, when the sea was calm and there was no
wind, I saw fish without number and of various
kinds and sizes. Among these are especially
to be noted the large schorks (sharks) or man-
eaters, of which often whole hosts were floating
on the surface of the sea. They are formed
like a hog, but as large as an ox, and they blow
up the water to a man's height. Many of these
fish came so near to the ship that they might
have been hit with a stone. They cause, some-
times, a tremendous roar, which always por-
tends a great storm.
In 1750, while I was on my way to America,
a laro^e shark was caueht and taken on board
another ship by means of a hook, to which a
piece of meat had been attached; and when
they
126 ©escriptton of tbc
they opened the monster, they found in its
bowels a whole man who still had on his shoes
with silver buckles; from which fact it was sur-
mised that this man could not have died a nat-
ural death, in which case he would not have
been sunk into the water with his shoes and
buckles on, but that he must have fallen over-
board from carelessness, perhaps during a
gale.*
In calm weather I frequently saw at sea many
flying fish, which flew so long as they were wet.
The largest are about half a foot long, and they
have long fins that look like wings. They are
much pursued and eaten by other fish. The
fish which we caught were always fresh and
welcome food for us at sea; they were of diverse
beautiful colors, some sky-blue with yellow stars,
some gold color with red stars, and others white
with blue stars. These fish were usually 4, 5»
and even 6 feet lonp-.
On our way home across the sea we passed
through two terrific and dangerous gales. The
first gale came on a Sunday morning, soon
after the beginning of our voyage. During the
*This seems to be no other fish than the Canis car-
charias, called by the Dutch Hayfisch, and for which
almost every nation has a different name. Schork [shark]
appears to be its English appellation. [The Dutch name
of the shark is haai, the German hai or haifisch. — The
Translator.]
storm
ILanD IPenns^lvanla. 127
storm the sailors had to furl up the sails; but
the wind blew so violently into one of the sails
that 1 2 men were unable to manage it, the second
mate was oblio^ed to ascend the mainmast. But
even this aid was not sufficient. At length the
gale tore the sail out of the hands of the sailors
and knocked the mate down, so that he fell
dead upon the deck of the ship. The storm
lasted more than twenty-four hours; the sea
went so hiorh that the waves rolled like hieh
mountains over each other, and fell roaring into
the ship, so that the man at the helm and the
two men that stood at the pump had to be tied
fast, lest they should be washed overboard by
the waves. At that time we gave ourselves up
as lost together with the ship.
In the seventh week, Sept. 22nd, we had
another gale which was so terrific that the sailors
were unable to furl up all the sails. The wind
blew so violently that it tore one of the largest
sails into shreds, though it had been tied fast with
immensely thick ropes. The waves of the sea
were indescribably formidable, so that the ship
now rode on their crests, and was now tossed
down into an abyss, was now hurled upon one
side, and now upon the other. The billows
rolled constantly over the ship, so that every
one thought that it would go down with all on
board. This gale and terrible anxiet}' lasted
from
128 2)escrfpt(on of tbe
from four o'clock in the evening until toward
three o'clock of the second night, when the wind
subsided, but the sea was that whole day still
so wild and high, and the ship rocked and rolled
so violently that it was impossible to cook a
meal or to take any comfort. The poultry on
board the ship was mostly found dead, the pigs
and sheep were sick, and the crew of the ship
themselves were more dead than alive.
At length the end of our return voyage ap-
proached. On the last day of the eighth week
the captain called his mates and ordered them to
furl up all the sails, and when this was done, to
throw out the soundino--lead to see if it reached
the bottom. This being done, the sounding-lead
touched bottom at a depth of 72 fathoms, a
circumstance which filled us passengers with
great joy, because we could hope now to soon
see land. This hope did not deceive us, for
on the fourth day of the ninth week we came
near the headland of Old England. This head-
land looks white as snow, and the land is there-
fore called Albion, But as we came nearer
the land, and had turned on our right a large
corner of France, we struck a sandbank, so that
the ship threatened to sink. But fortunately
the tide had just set in, and we had a good
strong wind which buoyed the ship up and
made an end to our tribulation, God be praised.
Thus>
XanD lPenn6i2lvania. 129
Thus, after nine weeks, on the loth of Octo-
ber, A. D. 1754, after many perils and hard-
ships, we entered the Thames at London and
landed safely on the same day on which, four
years before, I had trod the soil of America.
We all thanked God from the bottom of our
hearts; I kissed the ground with joy, and took
well to heart the 107th Psalm, which describes
the anguish of the seafarers so faithfully:
To the Triune God, for this great mercy and
preservation be praise and thanksgiving
rendered now and evermore.
iJfiiiUtmrilllllltifaiiU!!ifi(F(($iS[th[rriiHtitmmrFi{f!m[!trF!tFrit!N
Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11